Eskom has announced that it will be ramping load shedding to high stage until further notice, following trips at two power stations.
The power utility said the high stage of load shedding will kick at 6pm on Tuesday night.
Generation unit trips
Spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the ailing parastatal will issue a full statement on Wednesday.
“A generation unit each at Kendal and Lethabo power stations have just tripped. This necessitates the immediate escalation of load shedding to Stage 4 at 6pm. This stage of load shedding will be maintained until further notice.”
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Last week, Eskom reduced load shedding to stage 3 with many South Africans hoping that this would lead to the end of the deliberate power cuts.
Eskom board
There are also hopes that the Eskom board, which was appointed by Public Enterprises Minster Pravin Gordan, will make a difference in the rolling blackouts.
Gordhan announced that Mpho Makwana had been appointed as new chairperson of the Eskom board.
He said the incoming board must deal with the current load shedding issues, procurement, elimination of corruption and ensuring that there is reliabe energy supply in the medium to long term.
“This board is the accounting authority – it is responsible for evaluating the current performance of Eskom, and to account to the shareholder, which is the Department of Public Enterprises.”
Gordhan said with the Energy Availability Factor below 60% – the board will now have to solve that, and getting it up above 70%, which is one of its key roles.
Load shedding not ANC’s fault
Gordhan also told the National Assembly at a debate sitting that load shedding was not the ANC’s fault and that it stemmed back to the 1980s and it certainly was not a thing of the past.
He faced a barrage of questions in Parliament from MPs this week, about issues at the ailing parastatal and the chronic load shedding that South Africa has experienced.
“There will be eventually no more load shedding once we have more megawatts connected to the system. It is not going to happen overnight. To be frank with the SA public, the government has said repeatedly – we could still have load shedding for 9 – 12 months,” he said.
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