Eskom has denied reports that it quietly implemented Stage 7 load shedding without making a public announcement, in spite of curtailing more than 7 000MW from the grid over the past two nights.
This contradicts Eskom’s spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshatsha who told another publication that it was accurate to say load shedding was at Stage 7 at that particular time last night.
This comes after the struggling power utility shed 7 045MW and 7 092MW from the national grid on Tuesday and Wednesday evening peak demand hours, respectively, fuelling speculation that load shedding had been ramped up to Stage 7.
Stage 1 load shedding sees Eskom restricting up to 1 000MW while Stage 2 curtails up to 2 000MW and restricts electricity supply for 2 hours straight once a day.
Stage 6 load shedding - which is currently being implemented - restricts up to 6 000MW, meaning power cuts of up to 8 hours a day at certain intervals of between two and four hours each.
Stage 7 load shedding would mean 10 hours of power cuts in a 24-hour period spread between two and four hours each.
However, Eskom said the 7 000MW seen to be shed from the system operator was the total reduction made up of load shedding and load curtailment.
“We did not implement Stage 7 load shedding last night,” said Eskom via email responding to Business Report questions.
“We did, however, implement load curtailment Stage 4 for the qualifying industrial customers.”
The load curtailment Eskom is talking about is applied to industrial customers who meet the criteria in NRS048-9, including being able to shut down parts of their industrial plant and managing the curtailment on instruction from the system operator.
According to the NRS048-9, the South African grid system operation code, Eskom has the right to temporarily interrupt the supply to customers for purposes of the efficient operation and extension of distribution and/or transmission system and also in emergencies.
“Notably, load curtailment is not rotated as with load shedding but is enforced for the entire period of the event. In this case, the event is a continuous 36 hours ending at midnight tonight,” it said.
BUSINESS REPORT