Eskom: Stage 5 load shedding until further notice

Eskom has announced that it will now implement Stage 5 load shedding until further notice.

The embattled parastatal said Stage 5 will continue from 5 am with an update provided later on Wednesday.

The country was granted grace of no outages over the Easter weekend.

Eskom quickly defaulted to Stage 3 load shedding on Monday from 5 pm until 4pm on Tuesday.

“Over the past 24 hours a generation unit was returned to service at Lethabo and Matimba power stations,” said Eskom.

“In the same period, two generating units at Kriel Power Station and a generating unit at Kendal Power Station were taken offline for repairs.”

#PowerAlert1

Stage 3 loadshedding will be implemented from 17:00 this afternoon until 16:00 on Tuesday. Thereafter, Stage 5 loadshedding will be implemented from 16:00 until 05:00 on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/HpLSzxkwq2

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) April 10, 2023

What does Stage 5 load shedding mean?

Stage 5 power cuts require up to 5 000 megawatts to be shed from the national grid and that translates to at least eight hours a day without power for most South Africans.

The ongoing cycle

Stage 5 was implemented in November last year.

Fluctuating blackouts continued for weeks with load shedding stages meandering between stages 2 and 4.

The increase in load shedding stage came due to issues with diesel generation.

The power utility has since been on a cycle of power outages for months.

Disastrous impact on economy

In an eye wakening report 60% of small businesses in townships stop operations as a result of load shedding while 66% and counting continue to shed jobs in an attempt to stay alive.

This is according to a new research report survey conducted by Nedbank alongside the Township Entrepreneurs Alliance (TEA) where a survey across the country determined a paralyzing reality of the load-shedding impact on Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises in the township economy.

With more than R900 billion estimated value in 2021, the township market which is a mix of formal and informal business accounts for some of the country’s revenue.

The set economy employs over 2.6 million people in a variety of sectors ranging from retail, manufacturing, gas, livestock, distribution and even franchising.

The crystalized findings show that not only is the so called township economy under threat but over 60% of small businesses stop operating completely during load shedding, which on average is over four hours.

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