South Africans must prepare themselves for the high possibility of load shedding, as public power utility Eskom has been forced to shut down 11 power stations it can no longer afford to maintain.
Although Eskom is duty-bound to maintain its power stations, it doesn’t have the funds to keep all of them running at full capacity.
The national organisation’s weekly system status report shows that the country’s power grid is at risk until 17 December. As it can’t currently meet South Africa’s power demands, load shedding may become necessary.
“Maintenance is not where it was supposed to be and we are paying the price for that and trying to resuscitate it,” Eskom’s CEO, Phakamani Hadebe, said at a media briefing on Friday.
Eskom’s predicted report for next week reflects that its electricity supply will definitely be too low to meet reserves and, possibly, demand. Load shedding is implemented to ensure that the power grid does not collapse completely.
Speaking to Fin24, Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said that “the risk of load shedding is very high”.
The state utility has warned that the threat of load shedding is imminent in upcoming months, but as 11 of its coal-fired power stations have less than 20 days worth of supply, load shedding is now almost a guarantee.
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