UPDATE: Well, that was quick. Load shedding Stage 4 kicks in from 11 AM this morning. It’ll continue until midnight this evening. Saturday and Sunday will see Stage 4 continue from 5 AM to midnight.
Officially, Eskom is attempting to save fuel reserves in case of emergencies. But the strike is also having an effect, prompting the utility to warn that constrained electricity availability could continue for the next few weeks. Sounds like winter has finally arrived.
To conserve emergency generation reserves, loadshedding will be implemented to Stage 4 from
11:00 am until midnight tonight. pic.twitter.com/IHv6sLVuqt— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) June 24, 2022
ORIGINAL STORY: Perhaps Stuff was a little optimistic about this weekend’s load shedding predictions. The plan was that this week’s extended outage would scale down as the weekend progressed. Now it seems that illegal strike action at several Eskom facilities might just push the country to even higher stages of load shedding.
The state-owned power utility is facing unprotected strike action from employees. Wage negotiations stalled earlier this week, leading to protests. Said Eskom protests involve intimidation and blockading of roads leading to power stations and other locations.
Another strike for Eskom
Labour protests causing operational disturbances bring more loadshedding risk pic.twitter.com/TQ8AhziLtj
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) June 24, 2022
Making it difficult to get supplies into power plants will, obviously, make it harder for Eskom to keep the lights on. And the company was having trouble enough as it is. The nine locations affected are already straining power supply. If the strike action spreads, this weekend could well be colder and darker than previously expected.
“Eskom cautions the public that should these criminal acts of intimidation persist or spread, this would increase the risk of operational disturbances and the implementation of load shedding at higher stages. Ahead of these disturbances, the power system had already been under considerable strain for a while, with stage 2 load shedding currently being implemented.”
Eskom pointed out that electricity production is an essential service, meaning strikes are illegal. The utility has taken steps to facilitate “free movement of personnel and transportation of commodities in and out of power stations”. The SAPS has been involved, but what actions they might take against striking workers isn’t known at this stage. Eskom says it will provide updates, as and when the situation changes.