Energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said a confluence of factors has led to the return of load shedding in South Africa.
Eskom said on Friday that stage-3 load shedding will be initiated from 5pm on Friday and through the weekend. This is after 10 months of keeping the lights on, which had raised hopes that the rolling power cuts had been consigned to history.
According to Ramokgopa, three factors contributed to a “perfect storm”:
- A large number of generation units being offline for planned maintenance ahead of winter;
- The breakdown on Monday of six units in total at Matimba and Lethabo power stations – some of the best-performing in Eskom’s fleet – forcing the power utility to make use of its diesel-burning open-cycle gas turbines to keep the lights on; and
- The subsequent depletion of emergency reserves.
“We ran our gas turbines and we exhausted our reserves,” Ramokgopa told a media briefing at Megawatt Park on Friday.
“For purposes of protecting the grid, we need to protect our reserve margins. We will initiate load shedding because we are pulling back and replenishing the reserves. We are taking out the capacity that could be used [to keep the lights on] tonight to protect the system.”
Ramokgopa described load shedding’s return as a “setback”, especially considering the state-owned energy utility’s stated goal of achieving a full year without the rolling blackouts.
According to Eskom, boiler tube failures are the root cause of the outages at Lethabo and Matimba. Two of these units are expected to come back online tomorrow, with work to bring the other units back online also under way, although this will take longer, it said.
Ramokgopa acknowledged energy regulator Nersa’s Thursday decision to increase Eskom’s tariff by 12.7% in April. He commended how spirited the public participation portion of the process leading to the decision had been, saying the lived experiences of the average consumer helped Nersa come to a more informed multi-year price determination. Eskom had sought a 36% increase.
Outlook
The minister said Eskom will over the weekend replenish its diesel reserves to ensure they’re ready for the next workweek. He also emphasised that while the return of load shedding represents a setback for Eskom, the utility’s outlook remains positive, including for the high-demand winter period.
Read: Eskom prices to rise by four times latest CPI figure
“We are within touching distance of the resolution of load shedding. We are on the right track, and the trend line showing our efforts to reduce unplanned losses is positive. We have been seeing the rewards over a sustained period of 18 months. If we see setbacks, it is a disappointment, but that should not deter us from the bigger picture shown by that trend line.” — © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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