Eskom has announced that Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 14:00 today until 05:00 on Saturday, 2 December 2023, due to increased demand and insufficient generating capacity.
Eskom upgrades blackouts to permanent Stage 4 loadshedding
In a statement released on Monday afternoon, the struggling power utility explained this decision comes in response to a combination of heightened demand and challenges in generating sufficient power.
On Sunday, the national electricity supplier raised hopes when it halted rampant Stage 6 outages, vowing to improve generation capacity by injecting approximately 2 500MW of power back into the grid from Tuesday.
However, a day later, Eskom has already lowered expectations with a revised 1 300MW of generating capacity expected back in the grid on Tuesday evening.
In the past 24 hours, Eskom has had to take 500MW of generating capacity offline, albeit there has been some progress with 600MW returning to service.
Unplanned outages have seen a slight increase, rising from 15 386MW to 15 424MW of generating capacity.
Additionally, the capacity sidelined for planned maintenance has escalated from 5 617MW to 6 280MW. The forecast for evening peak demand stands at 28 123MW.
“Eskom teams are working tirelessly to ensure that this additional generating units are returned to service as soon as possible,” Eskom said.
Check the updated loadshedding schedule for this week right here: