Eskom increases power blackouts to Stage 4 from 1pm Saturday

Power utility Eskom has just announced that power blackouts have been increased to Stage 4 from 1pm Saturday from Stage 2.

#Loadshedding will be increased to Stage 4 from 13:00 until 22:00 tonight. #Stage4 loadshedding will be implemented at 08:00 until 22:00 tomorrow night. Demand is higher than anticipated, some units have tripped.

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) May 21, 2022

Eskom says due to the increased demand and units that have tripped, the blackouts have been increased.

Supplementary generation

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says supplementary generation programmes are required to deal with persistent rolling blackouts that have hit the country yet again.

Mantashe was speaking on the sidelines of the Presidential Imbizo at Carolina in Mpumalanga on Friday.

The minister claims the growing economy and population also contribute to high electricity demand.

He says close to 90% of people have access to electricity, compared to 1994 when only 34% had electricity.

“Eskom has connected a capacity of 45 000 megawatts, it hardly works at 30 000 megawatts and that gap is quite important. When they talk of 6 000 megawatts shortage, I always wonder if there is a 15 000 gap between connected capacity and operational capacity