Eskom was forced to implement stage 6 load shedding in December – its worst ever blackout – sending the country into a panic as not many people were aware of what that stage actually meant for them.
Municipalities too, were caught off-guard, with Johannesburg electricity distributor City Power saying at the time that it had no load-shedding schedule for Stage 6.
The year is 2020, and generation and maintenance challenges continue to mount at the state company which generates 96% of South Africa’s electricity.
As a result, all municipalities have been advised to adjust their load shedding schedule up to stage 8, the Buffalo City Municipality said in a statement on Saturday (11 January).
With each stage representing a curtailment of 5% of the national load, stage 8 will equate to 40% of the load being shed, the municipality said.
Under the previous load shedding schedule, four stages were implemented with between 1,000 MW and 4
Continue reading…