Eskom and government have started planning for Stage 5 and Stage 6 load shedding to make sure the country doesn’t suffer a national blackout.
Fin24 reported that according to officials, there is a race against time to ensure that a grid collapse does not happen.
Stage 5 and Stage 6 will shed 5000 MW and 6000 MW respectively.
For Joe Public and businesses, it means more frequent cuts.
Currently, at Stage 4, all areas suffer three outages per day of two and half hours each.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday he cannot say when rolling blackouts will end, as the power utility struggles with capacity shortages that threaten to thwart efforts to boost economic growth.
Eskom supplies more than 90% of the power in South Africa but has suffered repeated faults at its coal-fired power stations, along with low water levels at hydroelectric plants, diesel shortages and loss of imports from Mozambique, reported Reuters.
“We understand the frustration. We don’t have a magic formula,” Gordhan told a news conference, noting that while Eskom had 48 000 MW of installed capacity, only 28 000 MW was currently available.
Gordhan and Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza conceded that the company had not spent enough on maintaining its equipment, while new plants Medupi and Kusile had not come on stream.
Gordhan said engineers are investigating the plants and government will report back to the public “in the next 10 to 14 days”.