Failure to return several power units from planned maintenance prompted load shedding - Ramokgopa

JOHANNESBURG - Eskom says the failure to return several power units from planned maintenance has resulted in a loss of more than 3,000 megawatts, prompting power cuts.

The utility's top brass, and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, gave an update on the state of the power grid on Wednesday morning, a day after stage 2 load shedding was implemented.

Kgosientsho said Eskom has been ramping up maintenance on its power stations in anticipation of the winter season.

He added that some units that were shut down for maintenance have not returned on schedule as expected.

“Those units have not come back as a result of a multiplicity of reasons, some of them have to do with third-party players, the contractors, the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) that have not delivered, but that’s not for the public, that’s for us to manage. So this represents, I think, a failure on our part to manage and ensure there is proper management of OEMs.”