Eskom has confirmed Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented this weekend, starting at 17:00 on Friday.
CEO Dan Marokane confirmed this during a briefing on Friday afternoon, noting that load shedding is necessary for the utility to protect the system while it replenishes its emergency reserves, including diesel.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said a “perfect storm” had led to the resumption of load shedding on Friday, after a 10-month reprieve.
Amid a more aggressive planned maintenance programme, six units were this week unexpectedly lost at Matimba and Lethabo – the two plants typically being among Eskom’s best-performing power stations.
This came on top of unplanned outages at other plants, while units intended to come back online had also faced delays.
“What that meant is that, for most of the week, we had to rely on our open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs). Essentially in layman’s words, we were burning diesel,” the Minister said.
“We’ve exhausted our reserves. We are at a point where, for purposes of protecting the grid and the integrity of the system, we need to maintain the reserve margin.”
Marokane said some of the units lost this week have already returned to service, with others expected to come back online over the weekend.
“This is a potentially temporary setback. Load shedding is largely behind us due to the structural improvements in our generation fleet. However, over the past seven days, we have experienced several breakdowns that require extended repair times,” Marokane said.
“This has necessitated the use of all our emergency reserves, which now need to be replenished. Consequently, we are closely monitoring the status of our current emergency reserves, and load shedding up to Stage 4 may be implemented over the weekend.”
In Friday’s briefing, Ramokgopa said work would continue over the weekend, with the hope being that “normality” would return to the power system on Monday.
The power cuts come a day after the National Energy Regulator of SA said that Eskom’s electricity tariffs will increase by 12.7% from 1 April 2025. This is well below Eskom’s request of 36.1% for 2025/26.
Marokane said the utility still needed to assess how this would impact various plans for activities like maintenance, although he said the utility’s asset care plans needed to be solid, regardless of budgetary constraints.
Eskom also reported on Thursday that its half-year profit surged more than tenfold to R17.8 billion, boosted by higher electricity tariffs, improved cash flow, and state debt relief.
