POWER CRISIS
SA implements Stage 6 load shedding ‘until further notice’
South Africa was moved to Stage 6 power cuts on Monday evening, after the loss of two generating units and increased maintenance.
After a weekend of Stage 4 and Stage 5 load shedding, Eskom has announced that Stage 6 will be implemented from 5am on Tuesday, 5 September, and will continue “until further notice”.
Eskom, in a statement on Monday evening, said this was because of an increase in planned maintenance and the loss of a further two generation units on Monday.
“Overnight, a further two units at Lethabo and Matla power stations will need to be shut down for urgent repairs,” it said.
Eskom said breakdowns were at 16,210MW, while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance was 5,894MW.
“Since yesterday, a generating unit each at Kriel and Medupi power stations was taken offline for repairs. In the same period, a generating unit at [each of] Arnot, Kendal, Kriel and Lethabo power stations [was] returned to service.
“The delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Hendrina and Tutuka power stations is also contributing to the current capacity constraints,” it said.
South Africa is enduring its worst year for power cuts by the monopoly energy utility, with only one day where load shedding was fully suspended. (To track the days and stages of rolling blackouts, see The Outlier.)
The resurgence of Stage 4 and Stage 5 power cuts at the weekend came on the back of Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s statement last Sunday that load shedding could ease due to a drop in electricity demand and the expected return of units to service.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Electricity Minister raises hopes of fewer hours of load shedding – but we’re not yet out of the dark
Ramokgopa said Eskom would begin to ramp up planned maintenance after it had been cut during winter. In line with Eskom’s winter plan, planned maintenance had been kept below 3,000MW during winter (less than half of what is normally done in summer). However, in the past few days, Eskom has averaged about 5,910MW of planned maintenance.
Ramokgopa is currently in Kenya, where he is attending the Africa Climate Summit from 4-6 September.
A statement by the minister earlier on Monday said Ramokgopa was “concerned about the current load shedding Stage 5 and is in constant contact with the leadership of Eskom’s generation team to ensure that units are returned to service as speedily as possible”. DM
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Ek kan nie die kloutjie by die oor kry nie. Why are our politicians out galavanting abroad wasting tax payer money while home base is falling apart? Red ‘n land!
These so-called misters remain useless- whether they are in the country or outside of it trying to look and sound clever.
So much for the “electricity minister” – place is falling apart and he’s not even in the country, attending climate summits – whatever they are.
Political bunfights where everybody congratulates each other while they plan further malfeasance!!!?
Nothing to see here. BRICS bought light relief so Squirrel & Mob could seem to be running…something? My expectation was just this. Blow the budget. Burn the generators. Do whatever to make us look good during BRICS. Afterwards? Yes, well… candles, anyone?
You’re on the money there. All a big show even the long jet flying around burning fuel every day whilst Brics was on. Do they really think we’re such idiots ?
They don’t give a damn about what “we” think. They don’t much care about what “our people” think either. Electricity minister indeed! Best he just shut up because nothing he says bears scrutiny. But hey, they got rid of the guy who told it like it is! What a surprise.
Slow hand clap for our ruling ‘elite’. On the bright side, the more severe the power cuts, the less confidence there is in our esteemed ’leaders’. Isn’t it about time we dragged these imbeciles, kicking and screaming from their comfortable homes and made them do the jobs they are so handsomely paid for? The time has come to unplug Ramaposeur and his band of dull bulbs once and for all.
Whatever made anyone vaguely intelligent think that Ramokgopa’s appointment would make any difference? Victoria is too polite to say this, so I will: These clueless despicable fools in the ANC do not have the sophistication or intelligence to run an orgy in a brothel, any anyone who voted for them is equally moronic. From bad to worse while we attend parties, and keep in touch with senior managers by sending an occasional WhatsApp to “stay in constant contact” and express concern at Stage 6. Get your incompetent backside back in SA you fool!
You said it like it is! Bravo!
Methinks you are being much too polite.
Let’s hope that this time next year the ANC will be experiencing a ‘power cut’ that the rest of us have had to endure…
Eish baas she is broken again baas give me money baas
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Everybody is badly affected, even those whose homes do not have electricity. Shifts cut, jobs cut, price inflation.
Even the people that used to steal electricity are not going to vote ANC again. Or are they?
The minister is using his most favorite phrase there too – ” undermined or undermine”. He is a civil engineer. Is that why it is the only phrase that he can use to express anything? And off course looking important as the special minister. Shocking how the broke country can allow two ministers to be at this venue in Africa at the same time while our loadshedding is again on stage 6. He will come and say he got tips on how to “undermine” the blackouts. Denise Smit
Being an electrician, I find it a tad difficult to work without electricity
Our minister of Electricity is not a bright spark.
Anyone believing that load shedding was going to ease was clearly in cloud cuckoo land. This lamentable state of affairs was bound to happen sooner or later.
Lots of natural umbrage .
I like figures .
We have had 16MW out and 6 for repairs , stage 3-4 , now 6 ? What has changed ?
Why are there still so many breakdowns ?
This is due to the many long years since 1994, when maintenance was greatly reduced, if not obliterated.
The state of most of the coal-fired power stations is so bad that when something breaks, it gets repaired (Correctly? Using correct parts?), then a few days later, something else breaks and so the cycle repeats ad infinitum….
Of course we had a break due to BRICS. Our next break will be the build up to the Elections 2024
It was to be expected that after BRICS where we had very little load-shedding (ESKOM probably burnt a month’s diesel to keep the lights on), that they would need to claw back some of that budget by throttling back generation.
The duplicity of this government knows no bounds….