It’s going to be a cold and dark next few days for South Africa with Stage 6 load shedding set to be implemented from 2pm on Wednesday.
Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, said this is due to the loss of additional generating units overnight, the extensive use of the Open Gas Cycle Turbines and the inability to replenish pumped storage dam levels, Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 7am until 2pm, thereafter levelling up to Stage 6.
"Stage 6 will be implemented until 5am on Thursday. This pattern will be repeated daily until further notice," Mokwena said adding that Eskom will provide an update if they are any further changes.
The latest change to the schedule comes amid a cold snap making its way through the country.
Earlier this week, snowfall was reported in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the over the Cape region leaving many struggling to keep warm.
Meanwhile, Joburg City Power officials say they are frantically at work trying to restore electricity for thousands of frustrated Randburg residents who have not had any power since the outages started in the early hours of Monday morning.
Residents in the Randburg suburbs of Boskruin, Bromhof, Sonneglans and Northwold, have had no electricity since 3am Monday morning. Other areas such as Blairgowrie, Olivedale, Ferndale, Bordeaux, Northriding and others, have also been affected.
There have also been outages in various areas across Durban.
Democratic Alliance ward councillor, Zoe Solomon, said every load shedding scheduled is causing havoc with power supply.
"All outages are very quickly escalated and acknowledged by the department but they are severely overwhelmed by the whole City experiencing the same issues in all areas," she said.
IOL