As South Africans face the possibility of seeing stage 8 of load shedding, energy expert Ted Blom says there are chances of higher stages.
Blom’s sentiments come after Eskom implemented Stage 6 on Wednesday, leaving South Africa with the possibility of having power cuts for more than six hours.
Eskom said Stage 6 of power cuts came through because of severe breakdowns in its power stations.
“Stage 8 is very possible, given (the) Koeberg (situation) will lead to Stage 7 automatically unless a miracle happens. There is no diesel cushion to break the free fall. Only God can save us,” Blom said to IOL.
In an update to the media and the country in general, Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsha said Stage 6 load shedding will be implemented until further notice.
“This is due to a high number of breakdowns since midnight, as well as the requirement to strictly preserve the remaining emergency generation reserves. Eskom will publish a full statement in due course,” he said.
The power utility, Eskom, switched off the lights out as it implemented Stage 4 load shedding owing to breakdowns at stations such as Unit 1 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station which will be shut down for maintenance on Thursday.
Eskom also said the refuelling and maintenance outage starting this week, as well as the long-term operation project of Unit 1 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, together with the October chimney failure that has forced three generation units off-line at Kusile Power Station, will further reduce available generation capacity and significantly increase the occurrence of load shedding during the next six to 12 months.
Meanwhile, Statistics South Africa reported that 2022 saw the quality and standard of living of most households decrease because of a shortage of electricity.
At the same time, households are dealing with price hikes that did not match salary increases, higher interest rates, continuous load shedding, increasing crime, and weak employment prospects.
