Stage 5 load shedding: What Es

Stage 5 load shedding: What Eskom really meant

Oh good. We were worried…

Stage 5 load shedding: What Es

At a media briefing on Tuesday, 19 March, Eskom said additional stages are in place and added that they “will remain in control of the system.”

Eskom explained that “scheduled load shedding allows critical loads such as hospitals and deep level mines to be managed,” and will protect the system against a “national blackout.” They added:

“The response was certainly not to indicate that Eskom is formally planning to implement stage 5 or beyond – but merely to indicate that the necessary contingency planning is in place.

Well, now we know. Good ol’ Eskom was just trying to assure us they’re prepared for a worst-case scenario and that we shouldn’t worry about stages 5 or 6 being implemented.

One could argue that load shedding at Stage 4 is already not the best scenario, but I digress. And hey, if it’s any consolation, Eskom is worried too:

“Eskom can confirm that it is equally concerning that stage 4 load shedding has been reached, give the impact on the country. Eskom is doing in its power to improve system performance.”

Rejoice. We can sleep peacefully by candlelight tonight, knowing Eskom is concerned about this too. (That’s just a figure of speech, don’t really sleep by candlelight, please. Safety first.)

Stage 5 load shedding: Twitter responses

On Twitter, users were quick to share their thoughts. The font used in the media statement was cause for some hilarity. One user said “that font is… interesting,” while another added:

“The font. Wtf. You aren’t some corner canteen but a multi-billion Rand conglomerate. Use Calibri.”

Besides the font, netizens had serious concerns too. Russel wanted to know “how far are we from a national blackout,” while Herman Groenendaal added:

“Third power failure since 2 am this morning! How in the hell are people supposed to feed their children?”

Oh and hey, if that wasn’t bad enough, City Power JHB “regrets to inform customers that they will be unable to purchase electricity vouchers between 21:00 and 23:00 this evening [19 March] due to maintenance on the internet systems.”

Read: Six gadgets that make life during load shedding less painful