South Africans. experiencing “Stage 6”- which means they will go without power for six hours a day.
South African power utility Eskom implemented the power cuts early on Sunday morning. This is the second time this year it’s been this bad— although a “total blackout” was not imminent.
The cash-strapped utility, Eskom, has been struggling to keep the lights on in Africa’s most industrialized economy as regular power cuts curb economic growth, and fuel public frustration as Eskom seeks a new 32-percent tariff hike. Eskom gets most of its electricity from ageing coal-fired power plants prone to breakdowns.
They say they plan to cut about 6-thousand megawatts (mw) of power in a staggered manner to prevent a catastrophic collapse of the national electricity grid.