The parastatal gave an update on the rolling blackouts on Wednesday. Spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the ailing parastatal will share another update on Friday. “Stage 3 and stage 4 load shedding will continue to be implemented between 12am to 4pm, and 4pm to 12am daily until Saturday.” “Breakdowns currently amount to 15 492MW while planned maintenance is 5 076MW,” Mantshantsa said.

Eskom has implemented continuous power cuts for more than three weeks now with no indication of when the deliberate power cuts would end. During a media briefing earlier this month, Eskom Group Chief Operating Officer, Jan Oberholzer said sporadic load shedding would likely be implemented during summer months. “We are ramping up planned maintenance as we head into summer. We also find that our maintenance is not yet yielding required results. Units return to work, and then breakdown. This is due to lack of skills.”

Oberholzer’s sentiments were reiterated by President Cyril Ramaphosa who also warned in his weekly newsletter that the deliberate power will not end anytime soon. The president said while there was no quick fix for the deliberate power cuts, “real progress was being made”. “Given the unpredictable performance of Eskom’s fleet of coal-fired power stations, we will not be able to eliminate load shedding in the short term. This is the unfortunate reality of our situation, which has had a long history.”