After more than a month of no load shedding, Eskom on Monday evening announced that it would implement stage 1 load shedding between 7pm and 10pm “due to loss of generating units”.
News of the blackouts comes after the power utility warned on Sunday that the power system will be tight in the coming days owing to maintenance work.
Fin24 reported earlier on Monday that Eskom is undertaking planned maintenance on the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric scheme together with Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa.
“As a result, South Africa will get 650MW instead of the 1 500MW that is normally imported from Cahora Bassa on a daily basis.”
The maintenance is expected to be completed on Sunday, 20 September, with full power from the system restored by next Monday.
“Eskom will utilise its emergency reserves to augment the capacity shortfall as a result of this planned outage.” — (c) 2015 NewsCentral Media