Eskom implementing New Year’s load-shedding for first time ever

3 years ago 1

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Eskom will no longer suspend load-shedding for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

The utility announced the abrupt change in a short statement in the afternoon of Saturday, 31 December 2022.

Eskom explained it had suffered five more generating unit breakdowns since Friday afternoon, meaning it was no longer possible to suspend load-shedding.

Instead, it planned to continue implementing stage 2 load-shedding until further notice.

The utility had previously said it would temporarily cease the rotational power cuts from 16:00 on Saturday until 05:00 on Monday, 2 January 2022.

Eskom has never before implemented load-shedding over New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

The worst load-shedding previously experienced during this period was only implemented for the first five hours of 31 December 2020.

In the past, the significant drop in electricity demand during the festive season had eliminated the need for any load-shedding during both the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s.

Although Eskom was able to suspend load-shedding for most of Christmas Day this year, the power cuts were in effect for the first five hours of the day.

That also made it the first time ever that any load-shedding was implemented on Christmas Day.