Load-shedding returns for five hours on Thursday

Eskom says stage 2 load-shedding from 5pm to 10pm will continue on Thursday due to a shortage of generation capacity during the evening peak.

“Last night a generating unit at Lethabo power station was taken offline for repairs. One generation unit each at Kusile and Tutuka power stations were returned to service,” the power utility said in an update.

“A generation unit each at Matimba and Tutuka power stations are expected to return to service this afternoon.”

The DA, meanwhile, is scheduled to announce resolutions on the rotational power cuts later in the day.

“Fifteen years on and South Africans have been plunged into yet another round of blackouts. Enough is enough,” it said in a statement.

Eskom has 2,379MW on planned maintenance, while a further 15,365MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

“The onset of winter has seen increased demand and this will lead to capacity constraints throughout this period, particularly during the evening and morning peaks,” state state-owned utility said. “Unfortunately, this would generally require the implementation of load-shedding during the evening peaks.”

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