Eskom sees risk of stage 6 power cuts by Tuesday evening

Eskom sees a “very real risk” of having to implement stage 6 power cuts by 5pm on Tuesday, after 10 generation units went offline overnight.

Eskom ramped up power cuts to stage 4, requiring up to 4,000 megawatts to be shed from the national grid late last week, after labour protests linked to deadlocked wage talks. Under stage 6, 6,000MW needs to be shed from the grid.

The utility plans to meet union leaders again on Tuesday to try to resolve issues relating to the strike, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said.