Power utility Eskom recently announced that it would be expanding its load shedding plan to eight stages, allowing for up to 8 000 MW to be shed from the national grid. It previously had four stages that allowed for up 4 000 MW to be cut.  

The new schedule is "nothing to panic about", Eskom spokesperson Dikatso Mothae told Fin24 on Tuesday, and the risk of stages 5-8 being implemented was "very low".

Load shedding has to date included four stages, which allow for between 1000 MW and 4000 MW of the national load to be shed. 

When load shedding is implemented by Eskom, municipalities cut power to "blocks" according to a published schedule. Eskom also cuts power directly to customers that received electricity directly form it. As the load shedding stages increase, so does the frequency of the rotational power cuts. 

The new stage 8 would double the power cut frequency of stage 4.

Stage 4 means consumers are without power for a total of 24 hours spread out over four days, or a total of 48 hours over eight days - a quarter of the time.

During stage 8 load shedding, consumers would be without power for 48 hours over four days, or 96 hours in eight days - or half the time. 

Mothae said it was "unlikely" that Stages 5-8 would be implemented.

"After 2015, Eskom and the municipalities identified the need to extend the planning in place related to the number of stages of load shedding - and the national code was subsequently updated after significant engagement with stakeholders in 2016/17," she said.

"The Disaster Management Act requires Eskom to develop contingency plans for identified major incidents. A Severe Supply Constraint is one of these, for which Eskom has plans in place. Eskom also continually improves these plans."

The final plans are currently awaiting municipal approval, she added.

Eskom and most metros have already developed load shedding schedules that cater for stages 1-8, although not all metros and municipalities have published these.