South Africans can expect load shedding to continue for the rest of the week. This, as Eskom has announced Stage 2 load shedding from 5 am tomorrow until 5 am on Saturday, November 13th.

The latest bout of power outages is due to ongoing insufficient generation capacity, and the utility’s inability to replenish emergency reserves over the weekend. Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha says a “major incident” in Zambia yesterday affected the entire Southern African power pool.

Mantshantsha added that due to the system being constrained, Eskom could enforce higher stages of load shedding. Customers receiving their electricity from the City of Cape Town are reminded to consult their load shedding schedules. Stage 1 power outages are effective until 10 pm this evening. 

Meanwhile, energy expert Chris Yellend has warned that load shedding could only worsen in the comeing months. Yellend contends that Eskom’s issues could escalate in January due to the power utility’s major planned maintenance at the Koeberg power station.

He adds that when the maintenance at Koeberg takes place, that generation units would be taken offline for five months.