CAPE TOWN, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's electricity system is being effectively controlled despite worsening load shedding, electricity utility Eskom said on Tuesday amid growing public panic over possible collapse of the national grid.
"We remind customers that load shedding at stage four is no cause for alarm as the system is being effectively controlled," said the state-run parastatal, which provides about 95 percent of the electricity consumed in South Africa.
Eskom on Monday raised the level of load shedding from stage four to stage six, the highest level ever implemented, which allows for up to 6,000MW to be cut from the national grid.
The move caused panic among the public that the national grid would collapse soon.
Economists have warned that the implementation of stage six load shedding for the first time would further dampen South Africa's already poor economic growth prospects.
"With Eskom confirming a stage six blackout from today (Monday), one thing is certain: the SA economy is now condemned to recession," economist and CEO of Pan-African Investment and Research Services Iraj Abedian tweeted.
But Eskom downgraded stage six to stage four late Monday.
During stage four, 4,000MW is rotationally loadshed nationally at a given period.
Even during this stage, approximately 80 percent of the country's demand is still being met, according to Eskom.
Load shedding is a responsible act and highly controlled process, implemented to protect the country from a national blackout, Eskom said in its Tuesday statement.
"As communicated in the power alert issued last night, Eskom is implementing stage four rotational load shedding until 23:00 tonight as a result of shortage of capacity with a number of generating units still out of service due to breakdowns," said Eskom.
As the incessant rains continue to impact coal handling and operations at Eskom power stations, the probability for load shedding remains high for the rest of the week, the utility said.
"The Emergency Response Command Center continues to monitor the situation and the focus is to reduce unplanned breakdowns to below 9,500MW to enable us to minimize and to stop load shedding in the following week," Eskom said.
Eskom has been reeling under mismanagement and alleged corruption, two major factors that have contributed to the worsening power crisis.
