Stage 6 load-shedding, which has happened only once before, looks set to become a far more common occurrence as Eskom’s plant breakdowns remain at dangerously high levels.
Stage 6 means 6,000MW are dropped from the grid to avoid the system becoming unstable. In Gauteng, where load-shedding intervals last four hours, Eskom customers could be without electricity for an average of 10 hours a day.
Over the weekend, Eskom went to Stage 2 load-shedding, dropping 2,000MW from the grid. But had demand been at normal levels with everyone back at work, it would have been necessary to move to Stage 6 on Saturday and Sunday.
Demand over the holiday period is about 4,000MW lower than normal. Chris Yelland, who is MD at EE Business Intelligence, which tracks demand and Eskom plant performance, says that in the last week of January 2018 electricity demand was at 28,864MW. In the last week of December demand had dropped as low as 25,294MW.
Eskom says plant breakdowns mus
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