Eskom said it will implement stage 2 load shedding again on Monday, following a number of plant breakdowns.

“Eskom will implement stage 2 load shedding from 09h00 to 22h00 today. The power system remains constrained following a number of plant breakdowns yesterday,” spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said.

Eskom said that although a number of generating units have returned to service, additional units continue to trip, leading to a shortage of generating capacity.

“Stage 2 calls for 2,000MW to be rotationally load shedded nationally at a given period,” said Eskom.

“Load shedding is conducted rotationally as a measure of last resort to protect the power system from a total collapse or blackout.”

Energy analyst Chris Yelland warned that stage 2 load shedding of 2,000MW is set to cost South Africa’s productive economy R2 billion daily, the Citizen reported.

“The amount of electricity reserves are currently low due to a poor performance of the six generation units at the Medupi power station.

“Although you are dealing with new units, there are breakdowns in new plants due to the design and execution of the project. Problems in the boilers and dust handling plants can be technically traced back to the construction phase,” Yelland said.

He said that the “cost of R2 billion for 13 hours daily in the country’s productive economy due to the stage 2 load shedding of 2,000MW is something that could have been averted”, citing a lack of skills at the state owned entity.

And, speaking to the Sunday Times, Annabel Bishop, chief economist at Investec, said that there were a number of reasons why analysts are growing increasingly cautious of the state-owned enterprise.

“SOEs remain a key concern, especially Eskom,” she said.

“Given the parlous state of Eskom’s financial position, load shedding could persist into 2019 and if it was as extreme as in early 2008, GDP for Q1 2019 could see growth cut by as much as a third to a half.”

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