Eskom Announces Loadshedding Stage 2 Starting on Monday at 9pm, SA Thinks it is Due to Incompetence

• South Africa's state-owned power utility Eskom says loadshedding will commence from Monday 9pm
• Eskom says at least four power stations have experienced a breakdown of unit each which has affected power generation
• South Africans are wondering when Eskom will fix its issues with some people believing that rolling blackouts will end on Friday

JOHANNESBURG - South Africans have to brace themselves for a series of rolling blackouts following Eskom's announcement that loadshedding will be back from 9pm on Monday, 7 March.

In a statement issued by the state-owned power utility loadshedding will come to an end at 5am on Tuesday morning and the schedule will be implemented again from 9pm on Tuesday until Wednesday, 9 March.

Eskom says loadshedding is being implemented because a significant amount of the reserves were spent over the weekend. Eskom stated that the loadshedding period will be used to replenish the reserves, however, the power utility warns that the schedule might be extended should there be further breakdowns.

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Planned maintenance at Eskom power stations

Eskom says since Monday morning a unit each at four power stations tripped, namely, Kendal, Matla, Matimaba and Grootvlei.

Eskom says it expects some generation units to be back online in the next 24 hours, however, it pleads with all South Africans to use electricity wisely.

Here's the full statement:

South Africans share their frustrations on loadshedding

@demidashgod said:

"We're definitely lying, and we know it will continue till Friday, but we're just strung this to calm the public"

@BonganeMzi said:

"This is not a multi unit failures at Eskom, but it's a multiple Eskom Management failure. It's a multiple failure of the ANC, Pravin, De Ruyter and Ramaphosa. It is pure incompetence."

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@MichaelSun168 said:

"We have zero water in Kensington, Jhb. And now this cherry. Joburg is on the brink of a total collapse."

@DlaminiBM said:

"Imagine a country that could not solve power supply issues for more than 14 years yet they still want to be taken seriously."

@Pantsul28115453 said:

"When is this going to be sorted out, South Africans are already paying for irresponsible actions that have been committed and yet we all have to still be affected by outages."

Nersa grants Eskom a 9.5% electricity tariff increase from 1 April

Briefly News previously reported that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) stated on Thursday, 24 February that Eskom's rate rise for 2022/23 will be 9.61 per cent.

The tariff rise for 2022/23 is 3.49 per cent, plus legacy decisions from prior years, bringing the total to 9.61 per cent. Eskom had initially requested a 20.5 % electricity tariff increase, which included the prior revenue allowance.

Eskom had argued that a 20.5% increase was necessary because of factors that are beyond the stated-owned power utility namely, the requirement for Eskom to buy energy from independent power producers(IPPs) and carbon tax, according to Fin24.

Source: Briefly News