Load-shedding to end on Saturday morning, Eskom says

Load-shedding will be lifted on Saturday morning, Eskom boss Andre de Ruyter said on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking during an update on the status of the country’s electricity grid after stage 4 rotational blackouts were implemented on Monday, De Ruyter said some power station generating units had come back online or would come back online in the next two days.

“The outlook for load-shedding is that we will reduce load-shedding to stage 3 from tomorrow [Wednesday] morning at 5am. This will be maintained until 5am on Friday. Then we will maintain stage 2 until 5am Saturday, after which we intend to lift load-shedding and we should be able to return to normal operations,” he said.

The Eskom CEO said two units at the Lethabo power station and one at the Kriel power station would be back online soon. Other units would return in the coming week.

“If you add all this together, we anticipate between 3,800 and 4,000 megawatts will be added to the grid, which obviously will have a positive effect on the outlook for load-shedding going forward,“ he said.

De Ruyter apologised for the current stint of load-shedding, saying Eskom knew this was a “huge inconvenience”.

“We apologise for the negative impact this has had not only on businesses but also students writing matric exams,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, parliament’s portfolio committee on basic education said it was concerned load-shedding was affecting the matric exams.

It is not only the exams that are affected, said committee chair Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba. “It also impacts on pupils’ preparations for the examinations. It is particularly concerning with the National Senior Certificate examinations.”

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