Johannesburg - South Africa's major electricity provider, Eskom, has declared the initiation of Stage 2 load shedding, effective from the early hours of Monday, in response to substantial generation capacity shortages. This preemptive measure aims to stabilize the national power grid and prevent unforeseen outages.

According to South African Government News Agency, the utility is grappling with significant generation deficits, with unexpected outages and essential maintenance works exacerbating the capacity crunch. The utility detailed that as of Sunday afternoon, it was contending with an unplanned loss of 14,641MW in generating capacity, compounded by an additional 7,850MW being sidelined for scheduled maintenance activities.

Eskom's announcement further elaborated that the recent failure of two generation units, coupled with the escalation of planned maintenance, necessitated the enforcement of Stage 2 load shedding from 5 am Monday, with the duration extending indefinitely. Eskom pledged to provide timely updates on the power system's status and anticipated changes.

In a bid to expedite the restoration of normalcy, the company highlighted that its power station general managers and technical teams are intensively working to recoup lost generating capacity. By Wednesday, Eskom expects to reintegrate 3,830MW of power back into the national grid.

The utility also issued a call to action, urging consumers to curtail electricity usage, especially during peak demand periods. Commendation was extended to customers who have already adopted measures to conserve power, such as minimizing the use of high-consumption appliances and adhering to recommended load limiting practices. Such collective efforts are deemed crucial for diminishing the overall demand and facilitating the transition to lesser load shedding stages.