Cape Town – South Africans are expecting a slight relief as power utility Eskom announces Stage 4 load shedding until 4pm.
This comes after it said it had managed to replenish its emergency reserves sufficiently.
“Overnight we have replenished our emergency reserves sufficiently to not require Stage 6 load shedding during the morning.
“However, Stage 6 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm until 10pm so as not to deplete these reserves any further.
“Stage 4 is currently being implemented until 4pm,” the power utility announced this morning.
This came after Eskom announced the Stage 6 load shedding schedule to be implemented on Thursday through to Friday.
The reason given for this drastic load shedding stage was due to the continued unlawful strike by its employees.
Eskom said it was difficult to conduct routine maintenance as many employees were absent, while some employees were intimidated during the recent protest that ensued over the stalled wage negotiations.
Employees have downed tools since June 22, and it has since escalated.
“Due to the unlawful and unprotected strike which has caused widespread disruption to Eskom’s power plant, Eskom is still unavailable to return some generators to service.
“Eskom is compelled to take this unprecedented step to conserve emergency generation capacity to safeguard the power system,” Eskom said.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
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