Stage 4 load-shedding for the rest of the week

Eskom said shortly before 1pm on Monday that it would implement stage 4 rolling blackouts countrywide starting at 1pm until 5am on Friday.

The power utility said this was due to ongoing generation capacity shortages.

“While Eskom regrets the escalation in load-shedding, it is necessary to ration the remaining emergency generation reserves which have been utilised extensively this morning as we are not getting the reduction in demand expected from the implementation of stage 2 load-shedding.

“It was anticipated an additional seven units would have returned to service by Monday, and this has not materialised,” the embattled power utility said.

Eskom said a generating unit at Arnot power station tripped on Monday morning and further contributed to the shortages.

Total breakdowns amount to 14,874MW while planned maintenance is 5,579MW of capacity.

Stage 2 load-shedding will continue from Friday until 5am on Saturday.

TimesLIVE