SOUTH AFRICA - FORGET COVID-19, ESKOM HITS BACK WITH MORE LOADSHEDDING TOMORROW AND POSSIBLY NEXT WEEK ALSO

While the country braves the cold front engulfing most provinces this weekend, South Africans will have to put up with more load shedding after Eskom said it will most likely persist with power cuts through the coming week.

Eskom said in a statement that w hile the utility's teams are working round the clock to return generation units to service, the severely constrained generation system will most likely persist through the coming week.

Eskom requested that the public help reduce electricity usage in order to lessen the impact of loadshedding.

The power utility said, "Eskom will continue implementing Stage 2 loadshedding until 22:00 tonight. Loadshedding will then be suspended during the night, will resume at 08:00 tomorrow at Stage 2 and continue until 22:00 on Sunday night. Implementing loadshedding tomorrow is necessary in order to replenish the emergency generation reserves to better prepare for the coming week. Due to the much colder weather, demand for electricity has also risen significantly."

On Saturday, three generation units at the Arnot, Duvha and Kendal power stations were successfully returned to service after unexpected breakkdowns on Friday. These have added a combined 1 565MW capacity to the generation system, adding to yesterday’s return to service of generation units at the Tutuka, Matimba and Arnot power stations.

The return of a generation unit each at Tutuka, Kriel and Hendrina power stations has been delayed, contributing to the supply constraint Eskom urges the people of South Africa to continue reducing electricity usage to help us limit the impact of loadshedding. With your help Eskom can recover from this much quicker.

Eskom said it will communicate should there be any significant changes to the supply situation.