Eskom implemented stage 4 load-shedding in the early hours of Tuesday morning after experiencing further operational breakdowns at its power stations.
The parastatal announced that stage 4 had been implemented at 05:30 “due to breakdowns of five generators at five power stations overnight”.
“The load-shedding will be implemented until further notice,” Eskom said in its announcement
The power utility added that it would provide more details on the state of the power grid later on Tuesday.
Before Eskom’s latest setbacks, load-shedding was expected to remain at stage 2 until Wednesday and only be implemented between 16:00 and 00:00 in the evenings.
Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer last week said that the country would have to face load-shedding for at least 18 months before it could add new generating capacity to the grid.
Eskom’s forecast through to August 2023 has revealed that the utility has to keep unplanned outages below 13 000MW to avoid load-shedding. However, it is battling to keep breakdowns below 16 000MW.