Energy Council SA CEO says return of load shedding 'not a cause for panic'

JOHANNESBURG - CEO of the Energy Council of South Africa, James Mackay, said he was confident that the recent return of load shedding was a once-off measure.

This after Eskom implemented stage six load shedding on Sunday.

Since then, the power utility said it had been working on recovering failed generation units.

READ: Eskom downgrades power cuts to stage 2, says reserves require further replenishment

In early February, Eskom broke its streak of over 300 consecutive days of uninterrupted power supply. It attributed the consistency to the utility's generation recovery plan, set to maintain and repair the infrastructure of major power stations.

However, unit failures at the Majuba and Camden power stations resulted in the implementation of load shedding.

Mackay said Eskom had been quick to repair the units, having completed eight out of ten by Monday.

Mackay said the progress demonstrated Eskom’s commitment to keep the lights on.

"This is not a cause for panic, it is not an indication that we are going back to 2023, complete structural shortage where we had load shedding every day."

He added that there was still work to be done.

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