JOHANNESBURG - There may be no festive lights this year as Eskom's diesel budget may run out.
That's according to the CSIR's Monique le Roux.
She says the utility burnt a lot of diesel in November, leaving little for December.
This as South Africans will have to endure Stage 5 blackouts during the day and Stage 6 power cuts at night until Saturday.
Eskom says this is due to insufficient generation capacity and the need to further replenish emergency reserves.
"The reason why we had such levels of high load-shedding over the festive season last year was due to the fact that Eskom ran out of money to burn diesel," Le Roux said.
"Over November they burn quite a lot of diesel compared to other months. If they start running out of money we are probably going to see those levels reaching the same as last year. "