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We’ve heard talk of load shedding stage eight before – both in 2019 and earlier this year – and here we are again.

You know the joke – when you hit stage eight, the government comes to your house and blows out your candles.

As if they could organise that.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh, even if you’re crying on the inside.

News broke yesterday that Eskom had suffered yet another legal setback. In a nutshell, reports eNCA, the power utility had applied for exemptions from minimum air-quality standards for both the Matimba and Medupi power stations in Limpopo.

Eskom is warning that the country could soon face Stage 8 blackouts after the Department of Environmental Affairs rejected Eskom’s application to allow it to pollute more than is legally allowed…

Eskom is appealing the decision, which will see about 16,000 megawatts taken off the grid.

16 000 megawatts is not spare change for an already overburdened and crumbling power grid. In fact, that’s around a third of its total generating capacity.

On top of that, Eskom is dealing with sabotage from the inside from networks that have benefitted extensively from criminal activity in and around the utility.

Eskom senior manager Deidre Herbst appeared on eNCA this morning:

Some of the basics of what she covered via MyBroadband:

“If we comply, we will need to switch off with immediate effect, and that would result in stage 8 load shedding, continuously,” Herbst told eNCA.

On top of the increased frequency of load shedding, Herbst said that full compliance with the requirements in the short term would drastically increase the price of electricity.

Full compliance could cost around R300 billion with electricity costs expected to rise by as much as 30%. Petrol, electricity, food – when do the price increases stop?

I just opened EskomSePush to see what stage eight would look like in my area.

13,5 hours today and 13,5 hours tomorrow.

While Eskom’s appeal is considered the company is exempted from those pollution limits.

Make no mistake, though, load shedding will rear its head again soon.

[sources:enca&mybroadband]