Eskom reduces stage 6 load shedding to stage 4

Eskom has announced that loadshedding has been reduced from stage 6 to stage 4 since the early hours of Monday. The utility spokesperson Daphne Mokoena said this is due to the recovery of five units. “This follows the successful recovery of all five units at Majuba, two units at Camden, and one unit at Medupi since Saturday, totalling eight out of ten generation units that had tripped this weekend,” said Mokoena. According to Mokoena the recovery of the units comes after the root causes of multiple unit trips were identified. “The return of these units comes after identifying the root causes of multiple unit trips, which were unconnected and purely technical, related to electrical and control system issues in auxiliary parts of these power stations,” explained Mokoena. The power utility said its planned maintenance stands at 7 706MW and its emergency reserves replenishment is progressing well. Eskom implemented stage 3 of the rolling blackouts on Saturday after twenty days of uninterrupted power supply and it was escalated to stage 6 in the early hours of Sunday, as more units went down at Camden Power station. Eskom said it will provide an update on Monday.