South Africa’s state-owned power utility, Eskom, has announced controlled power outages, removing 3,000 megawatts from the national grid due to what it described as a “temporary setback.”
The rolling blackouts, known as load shedding, come after nearly 10 months of stable electricity supply. A similar disruption occurred in January, but Eskom has not disclosed the specific cause of the latest crisis.
The outages escalated to stage 6 in the early hours of Sunday following multiple power station failures. This is the most severe load shedding since November 2023.
Eskom stated that the drastic measure was “essential” to replenish emergency reserves and stabilize the grid for the upcoming week. The company has promised further updates on Sunday.
Load shedding in South Africa is implemented in stages, with stage 1 cutting 1,000 MW and stage 6 representing the highest level of power cuts. The crisis is often linked to breakdowns at Eskom’s aging coal-fired power plants, which generate the majority of the country’s electricity.
