Capetonians are advised to put measures in place to deal with load shedding, as Eskom has announced it will implement load shedding from 9am on Friday, December 6 until 6am on Saturday, December 7.

“As electricity systems continue to remain under severe pressure with unplanned breakdowns remaining above 12 500 MW, Stage 2 load shedding will regrettable be implemented from Friday at 9am to Saturday 6 am,” Eskom said in a statement.

On Thursday, December 5, Eskom also warned South Africans to prepare for Stage 2 load shedding, from 4pm until 11pm.

“Eskom would like to inform South Africans and all its customers that the electricity system is severely constrained. In the power alert issued earlier this morning Eskom informed that unplanned breakdowns were at 12 300MW, and that there was a probability of load shedding at short notice if unexpected shifts, such as additional unplanned breakdowns, were experienced,” the power utility said in a later-released statement. “We have experienced a loss of additional generation. As a result, it has become necessary to implement Stage 2 rotational load shedding from 4pm until 11pm in order to protect the power system from a total collapse. In the system status briefing of September 4, 2019 Eskom warned that in order to avoid load shedding, unplanned breakdowns needed to be contained at below 9 500MW. In the event generator breakdowns are experienced beyond 10 500MW there will be high usage of emergency resources (diesel and pumped storage generators), which may lead to load shedding if the supply constraints is sustained for a long duration.”

“The severe supply constraint being experienced has come about due to high levels of unplanned breakdowns that have exceeded the 10 500MW limit,” it added. “We unreservedly apologise to South Africans for the negative impact this may have on them and want to assure the nation that we continue to work tirelessly to ensure security of energy supply.”

Check your load shedding schedule here.

Picture: Pixabay

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Lucinda is a hard news writer who occasionally dabbles in lifestyle writing, and recent journalism graduate. She is a proud intersectional feminist, and is passionate about actively creating a world which is free of discrimination and inequality.