Just hours after implementing Stage 4 loadshedding in South Africa, Eskom has surprisingly suspended outages on Sunday morning.
Certainly, citizens were shocked when the announcement was made that the nation’s tired old nemesis had returned on Friday and even more so when the outages were unceremoniously halted.
Eskom suspends loadshedding
Eskom has issued a statement confirming that the implementation of Stage 4 loadshedding has been temporarily halted.
“After a temporary setback that necessitated the implementation of loadshedding over the weekend, Eskom has suspended loadshedding as of 06:00 today due to the recovery of sufficient emergency reserves. This follows more than 10 months of uninterupted electricity supply, reflecting the effectiveness of the Generation Recovery Plan.”
The power utility revealed that it had implemented the outages following numerous breakdowns affecting supply to the national grid.
“This past Friday, Eskom announced that it had encountered several breakdowns over the past week, necessitating extended repair time and the full use of its emergency reserves.”
How did Eskom manage to halt outages?
Interestingly, Eskom has successfully managed to turn the situation around and restore the needed supply.
“As promised, Eskom has since replenished these reserves with dam levels fully replenished and open-cycle gas turbines adequately recovered, ensuring a stable supply. Additionally, five coal-fired generation units have been successfully repaired and returned to service, adding a total of 2 930MW to the grid. And an additional 2 391MW is expected to be restored today.”
Utility optimistic despite outages
Eskom has boldly claimed that loadshedding is ‘largely’ behind South Africa, explaining that the outcome is far brighter after improvements.
“With loadshedding largely behind us, the structural improvements and efficiency gains we have made in our coal-fired generation fleet are secure, along with over R16, 30 billion saved in diesel costs from April 1, 2024, to January 30, 2025.”
However, the power utility has asked the public to aid in overcoming hurdles like illicit connections and vendors.
“Eskom continues to face network overloading issues in certain local areas due to illegal connections, vandalism, meter tampering, unauthorised network operations, theft of network equipment, and purchasing electricity from unlicensed vendors. To prevent public safety hazards and the risk of network overloading and extended unplanned power outages, Eskom strongly urges customers to avoid illegal connections, as this can negatively impact the entire local community. It is also essential for customers to ensure they purchase electricity only from authorised vendors”.
Do you share Eskom’s optimism that loadshedding may soon be a thing of the past?
Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website’s newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
