Eskom has just announced that it is implementing stage 6 load shedding from 12pm today until Monday. The power utility said in a statement that this was due to a shortage of generating capacity and generational reserves.

"It is with great regret that due to the shortage of generating capacity and emergency reserves, stage 6 load shedding will be implemented from 12:00 today until 05:00 on Monday," the statement reads. Eskom further said that it will publish communication later today and continue to closely monitor the power generating systems. Eskom said that it was implementing stage 6 because of the loss of five generating units over the past 24 hours resulting in a shortage of generation capacity as well as the need to replenish their emergency reserves. "Unplanned outages are currently at 15 901 megawatts of generating capacity while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5 822 megawatts. Eskom's load forecast for the evening peak demand is 27 206 megawatts," the statement said.

Earlier this month, Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, told the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises that load shedding is an existential problem both in economic and social terms, which requires urgent attention. Ramakgopa said that South African economy could be losing up to R1 billion a day depending on the intensity of load shedding. "This is severe. The amount of jobs that have been lost as a result of load shedding is projected to be over 800,000 just for the current year, if you were to go by the modelling that has been done by some of the reputable institutions," he said. He further told Parliament that, "I'm trying to convey the message that we are dealing with a major problem that undermines the overall growth of the South African economy," he said. In October, Eskom announced that it was going to ease load shedding in the country when it implemented stage 2 in the evenings. Eskom further announced that it was bringing changes to the load shedding blocks, which was to affect the schedule in areas load shed by City Power in Johannesburg. This meant that some areas around Johannesburg's load shedding schedule were now going to be allocated to City Power.