The situation at state power utility Eskom is dire and has pushed South Africa beyond the tipping point, Energy Thought Leader CEO Mike Rossouw has said.

“Eskom is near a total collapse,” Rossouw said during a recent interview on radio station 702.

Rossouw is the former chair of the Energy Intensive Users Group and was brought on as an advisor at Eskom in 2014, answering directly to former CEO Collin Matjila.

“I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, I see a big train coming down the tunnel at us,” Rossouw said.
We’re definitely going to have to get used to being in the dark.”

Eskom announced on Wednesday that it would implement Stage 4 load-shedding for the rest of the week, ending at 050 on Friday.

Additional load-shedding was needed after units at the Medupi, Kusile, and Matla power stations tripped while a unit each at Lethabo and Arnot power stations were forced to shut down.

Total breakdowns yesterday amounted to 14,957MW, while planned maintenance meant 5,301MW of capacity was not available.