/ 31 January 2025

Eskom warns of stage 4 loadshedding over the weekend

Load Shedding
After more than 10 months of uninterrupted electricity supply for most of the country, Eskom has issued an alert indicating a high risk of load-shedding this weekend. (Leon Sadiki/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

After more than 10 months of uninterrupted electricity supply for most of the country, Eskom has issued an alert indicating a high risk of load-shedding this weekend, citing several breakdowns in its generating units.

The warning on Friday comes a day after the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) approved a 12.74% electricity tariff increase for 2024-25, far less than the 36.15% the power utility had said it needed to be viable.

“Over the past seven days, we have experienced several breakdowns that require extended repair times. This has necessitated the use of all our emergency reserves, which now need to be replenished,” Eskom group chief executive Dan Marokane said in a statement.

Eskom said South Africa has not endured rolling blackouts since the implementation of its Generation Operational Recovery Plan to address various operational constraints at power stations. 

It said the possible return of load-shedding was a “potential temporary setback” that would not hinder its progress in eliminating the powercuts entirely. 

“Load-shedding is largely behind us due to the structural improvements in our generation fleet,” Marokane said. 

“Consequently, we are closely monitoring the status of our current emergency reserves, and load-shedding up to stage 4 may be implemented over the weekend.” 

Eskom had asked Nersa for R445 563 million, R495 355 million and R536 778 million for the 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28 financial years, respectively. Based on the application, the proposed tariff rises were projected at 36.15%, 11.81% and 9.10% for the three years. 

What it will actually get translates to tariff hikes of 12.74%, 5.36% and 6.19%, respectively.