Photo: Unsplash
Photo: Unsplash
Eskom have piled on the misery for South Africans on Wednesday, after they confirmed that they would be cutting the power even further this afternoon. Stage 4 load shedding will now be introduced for a seven-hour period throughout the evening.
(NEWSFLASH) #Eskom says #loadshedding will move from Stage 2 to stage 4 at 15:00 until 22:00 tonight, due to exceptionally high demand.
— Bulelani Phillip (@BulelaniPhillip) September 2, 2020
When does Stage 4 load shedding come into effect on Wednesday 2 September?
At 15:00, South Africa will move up from Stage 2, skipping Stage 3 completely, to face the burden of Stage 4 cuts. This means 4 000 MW of power will be removed from the grid, causing longer and more frequent electricity outages.
The firm has sheepishly issued a brief update on their Twitter feed, confirming the terms of this downgrade to Stage 4. No details have been released over what has caused this intensified schedule, with Eskom only announcing that ‘exceptional demand’ has put the utility in a difficult position. However, we are expecting another update soon.
“Eskom regrets to announce that load shedding will move from Stage 2 to Stage 4 at 15:00 until 22:00 on Wednesday 2 September, due to exceptionally high demand. Statement to follow shortly.”
Eskom statement
Eskom struggling to keep the lights on
In the middle of both a coronavirus pandemic and a biting cold front, Eskom could have barely picked a worse time to dim the lights. However, their grim forecasts shared with Parliament earlier on Wednesday suggest that load shedding will be with us ‘for at least another 18 months‘ – with a particularly intensive schedule predicted between now and December 2020.
Despite a recent wave of Stage 2 cuts, Mzansi slips back into Stage 4 on Wednesday. This is a developing story and we’ll have more updates as they come through.
Eskom regrets to announce that loadshedding will move from Stage 2 to stage 4 at 15:00 until 22:00 tonight, due to exceptionally high demand. Statement to follow shortly
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 2, 2020
