'Expect increased load-shedding' — Eskom's Andre de Ruyter

South Africans should expect increased load-shedding, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said on Friday, while the power utility works to resolve the country's energy crisis.

De Ruyter was giving an update on Eskom's operational performance.

Eskom announced on Thursday that scheduled power outages would resume overnight. An update on Friday said stage 2 load-shedding would be implemented until Monday next week. The power utility said this was due to a shortage of generation capacity and depleted emergency reserves. In addition, three big units are scheduled for planned maintenance on Friday.

“Our system is constrained. It's unreliable and it's unpredictable, it is prone to unplanned outages and breakdown. We are extremely scrupulous when it comes to the imposition of load-shedding. It's not a decision we take lightly. I'm personally involved in every decision to impose load-shedding. It's very regrettable for us to have to do this to SA,” the new CEO said.

De Ruyter said Eskom had to change its planned maintenance philosophy, and this was likely to result in load-shedding.

“We will, unfortunately, have to expect some increase in load-shedding. We are going to have to do this in a structured and carefully managed way.”

This is a developing story