‘More evidence’ Eskom has secretly implemented Stage 6 load shedding

Eskom is full of party tricks: Their attempts to implement ‘load reductions’ in certain parts of the country – to avoid calling more rounds of load shedding – have already come under fire. But one energy expert now believes that the firm is hiding the extent of its nationwide power cuts, claiming that STAGE 6 outages have been secretly smuggled onto the grid.

What is Stage 6 load shedding?

Ted Blom, one of SA’s most prominent energy experts (and one of Eskom’s biggest critics), says he has learned that OVER 5 000 MW of power was removed from the electricity supply this week – a figure which significantly exceeds the parameters of Stage 2 load shedding. Indeed, the senior analyst believes the outages were much more severe.

Any time that 5 000 MW or more is taken away from the power supply, it ventures into Eskom’s own definition of Stage 6 load shedding. Blom is adamant that these levels were reached on Wednesday, as blackouts returned with a vengeance. He’s now accusing Eskom of ‘treating the public like idiots’ and called for accountability from their CEO.

“So load shedding on Wednesday 2 June was actually STAGE 6 [5 136 MW was taken off the grid], vs Stage 2 declared by Eskom. Do they think the public is stupid? Andre de Ruyter stated he is personally in charge of load shedding – who needs to be fired?”

Has Eskom lied to the public?

The country has taken its first steps out of load shedding on Monday – the first time that scheduled outages have been dropped since Friday, where Parliament successfully lobbied for a suspension of the power cuts. Although President Ramaphosa has praised Eskom for ‘progress made’ in tackling the energy crisis, Blom and the public aren’t so sure…

So Loadshedding on Wednesday 02 June 2021was actually LEVEL 6 (5 136MW) vs Stage 2 declared by Eskom. The think the public is stupid? ADR stated he is personally in charge of Loadshedding. Who needs to be fired?

— Ted Blom (@tedblom) June 7, 2021