Photo by: Duane Daws
Eskom has announced that it will move to Stage 2 load-shedding from 16:00 on Thursday.
The power utility said the electricity blackouts were likely to continue until 22:00.
“The power system is currently severely constrained due to a shortage of generating capacity as several units are currently out of service for scheduled maintenance and others due to technical faults,” Eskom said in a statement.
Eskom implemented Stage 1 of power cuts at 09.35 on Thursday, the entity said their technicians were working hard to return the units back to service as soon as possible.
“In addition to the units that are currently offline due to technical faults and planned maintenance, the situation was this morning exacerbated by a loss of 1 200 MW of electricity imported from Mozambique due to technical faults at the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power station. This is in addition to the initial 300 MW lost yesterday at the same power station.”
Eskom urged all customers to use electricity sparingly and to switch off all nonessential appliances in order to reduce pressure on the national power grid.