Somehow we’ve managed to get this far into both a pandemic and Winter without loadshedding, but it seems as if the streak might be over.

During an interview this morning on CapeTalk with Refilwe Moloto, Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said that there is a high probability of loadshedding in South Africa from today.

“The generation system is quite constrained, due to the cold front hitting the country which puts pressure on our generation units and some of them have broken down,” the spokesperson said.

Those units mentioned are generation units at power plants in Mpumalanga. The units reportedly tripped which prompted Eskom to ask South Africans to reduce their consumption.

“There is a high probability of loadshedding during the evening between 17:00 and 21:00 starting today,” Mantshantsha said.

The spokesperson says that demand has peaked due to the cold-front and Eskom is having to draw on all of its resources to make up for the shortfall caused by generation units tripping.

While Gauteng residents have had to contend with “load reduction” for the last few weeks, it seems Eskom is now graduating to full on loadshedding.

Load reduction, according to Eskom, is meant to offset the demand for electricity during peak hours in areas where illegal connections are rife.

Dust off your candles, perhaps get a warm blanket and update your EskomSePush app for Android and iOS. It looks like we may have to deal with power cuts on top of everything else.

At least nobody can say 2020 has been boring, right.