POLL | How have you prepared for stage 6 load-shedding this winter?

Eskom has hinted at the possibility of escalating load-shedding to stage 6 should the power grid come under further strain.

The power utility announced stage 2 load-shedding last week, increasing it to stage 4 from early on Tuesday morning until Friday.

Eskom gave no prior notice before escalating the blackouts and said it was “forced” to do so after trips at Majuba unit 5 and Tutuka unit 4.

Speaking about the state of the grid, Eskom group executive for generation Philip Dukashe said load-shedding would be reassessed later this week.

“At this stage we do not envision stage 6 being necessary this week. We are hoping that will continue to be the case,” Dukashe said.

Head of transmission Segomoco Scheppers said they expect between 37 and 101 days of load-shedding during winter. This depends on how much generation capacity Eskom will lose during the coldest months. 

DA shadow minister of public enterprises Ghaleb Cachalia called for Eskom to be declared “a state of disaster” and said the utility had “proved beyond any doubt it is not able to solve SA’s 14-year-old load-shedding crisis”.  

“The entity’s old generation fleet is on life support and is constantly tripping, resulting in power outages being announced at short and debilitating notice,” he said.

“It is high time our demands are addressed. The dire situation in KwaZulu-Natal is being compounded by electricity supply issues which affect the ability, inter alia, to pump much-needed water supplies. People are dying, businesses will die, ports are closed and the country will grind to a halt.”

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