• Loadshedding was upgraded to Stage 4 at 07:00 on Wednesday.
• Stage 6 will then kick in at 14:00 until 05:00 on Thursday.
• This cycle of Stage 4 between 05:00 and 14:00 and Stage 6 between 14:00 and 05:00 will continue until further notice.

As the mercury has plummeted into the negative figures in parts of the country, South Africans have drawn more power from the grid to warm their homes. As a result, the demand for power has reached higher levels and Eskom can’t meet that demand.

After moving to Stage 4 on Monday and continuing to Stage 2 and 4 on Tuesday, Eskom has thrown off the pretence and declared it can’t meet the power demand of the country.

“Due to the loss of additional generating units overnight, the extensive use of Open Gas Cycle Turbines and the inability to replenish pumped storage dam levels, Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented at 07:00 this morning until 14:00. Thereafter, Stage 6 loadshedding will be implemented from 14:00 today until 05:00 on Thursday. This pattern will be repeated daily until further notice,” the utility announced 40 minutes before upgrading the severity of blackouts for the day.

The utility also revealed this morning that it failed to meet demand by as much as 6 215MW even with 4 082MW of loadshedding on the go. That means that even with loadshedding in place, Eskom was two stages of loadshedding short on supply.

This increased stage of loadshedding comes after the Eskom Debt Relief Act was signed into law and the utility met new highs in renewable energy generation.

That is of little consolation for South Africans who now have to endure four-hour blocks without power along with the prospect of infrastructure being vandalised or stolen during those marathon outage blocks.

Charge your electronics, fill up your gas canisters and get ready for what is going to be a cold, dark week in South Africa.

[Image – Arisa Chattasa on Unsplash]