Loadshedding Is Back: Eskom Announces Stage 2 From Wednesday to Monday

• Stage 2 loadshedding will start at 11am today, Wednesday, 2 February, and will continue until 5am on Monday morning, says Eskom
• Several power stations need to be maintained and repaired following the high electricity demand this past weekend
• Many South Africans expressed their frustration upon hearing that loadshedding had returned as they feel they should be respected as paying customers

JOHANNESBURG - Eskom has announced that there will be Stage 2 loadshedding from 11am today (2 February) until Monday (7 February) at 5am.

"This loadshedding is necessary due to a shortage of generation capacity following breakdowns of two more generating units during the night," Eskom said in a statement.

Reasons for loadshedding

The power utility said that their power stations were depleted by the past weekend's electricity usage and need an opportunity to recover, which loadshedding provides.

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Eskom suffering from effects of meter tampering, vandalism and theft

News24 reports that three of Eskom's generating units should be back in service by this afternoon. Scheduled maintenance is currently at 4 435MW of the total capacity.

Two power stations, Kendal and Kusile, tripped. In addition, five power stations experienced issues in returning units. They are Grootvlei, Duvha, Kusile, Lethabo and Tutuka, according to Eskom.

Reactions to loadsheddding

Mokoni Sylvester Thebull Babili remarked:

"Eskom, this is not free electricity. We pay for it."

Matidze Matrend Rendy shared:

"The only thing they deliver on time."

Sisa Pama believes:

"The only thing they know at Eskom is how to loot money from poor South Africans."

Grace Sebake asked:

"Who hires these people? They are failing to do their job properly. Why aren't they fired and people who can do their job hired?"

Mamaka Vus said:

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Locals threaten to burn power station over cuts, SA says bad idea: "Then what?"

"Imagine complaining about loadshedding while you voted for the ANC."

Eskom suffering from effects of meter tampering, vandalism and theft

In other news about Eskom, Briefly News recently reported that Eskom has said that the power utility faces several challenges that hamper its ability to fulfil its power generation mandate, such as meter tampering, vandalism and theft.

The power utility identified 34 492 cases of electricity meter tampering in the 2020/21 financial year. The motive for these incidents was to decrease electricity expenditure. People achieved this by modifying meters to register that fewer units, or none, were used in some cases.

Eskom announced that they would be cracking down on people who tamper with electricity meters, including those who move them from their original site. Offenders will be fined to recover part of the over R2 billion loss Eskom has incurred due to tampering.

Source: Briefly News