By Zukile Majova
Sounds like Christmas came early but how long will the celebrations last?
Power utility Eskom has announced plans to reduce load shedding all the way to Stage 1 by Sunday.
That will however last 11 hours from 5am on Sunday to 4pm and then revert to Stage 3.
This is by no means a real reprieve for South Africans who have been losing electricity for eight to 12 hours a day since the start of 2023, costing the economy over R1 billion a day.
There were over 200 days of load shedding in 2022.
“Loadshedding will be reduced from Stage 4 to Stage 3 over the weekend with Stage 1 loadshedding forecasted for Sunday morning,” Eskom said on Friday.
The country will be on Stage 4 on Friday, and Stage 3 on Saturday and Stage 1 from Sunday morning.
Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at Duvha, Kriel and Matla power stations returned to service but a generating unit each at Camdel and Kendal Power Stations were taken in for repairs.
Eskom said higher stages of load shedding continued during the week because the return to service of one generating unit in each of three power stations – Hendrina, Medupi and Tutuka – has been delayed.
It said repairs to the damaged towers at Cahora Bassa in Mozambique will be completed early next week.
Meanwhile, newly appointed Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has announced plans to meet the National Treasury to discuss procurement of diesel to reduce load shedding while allowing the power utility to fast track service and maintenance of its ageing fleet.
Pictured above: Eskom
