‘Eased’ load shedding expected on Thursday
Power utility Eskom is set to reduce load shedding on Thursday (28 October) to stage 3 with an additional 2,000MW of generating capacity set to come online, says public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan.
In a media briefing on Wednesday evening, the minister said that further generating capacity is expected to return to service on Thursday and Friday, which would allow for a further downgrade to stage 2 load shedding.
He added that load shedding is set to end this weekend ahead of the local government elections on Monday (1 November).
“Eskom, and ourselves as government, are doing everything possible to ensure the elections are not disrupted in any way.”
Gordhan added that a number of contingency measures have also been put in place with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to ensure that the elections were not disrupted by power supply issues.
On Wednesday, Eskom announced stage 4 load shedding due to further shortage of generation capacity.
The power utility said that a unit at each of its Medupi, Kusile and Matla power stations tripped, while a unit each at Lethabo and Arnot power stations were forced to shut down.
“This constrained the power system further requiring extensive use of emergency reserves, therefore hampering the recovery of these reserves.”
For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:
- City of Johannesburg
- City of Ekurhuleni
- City of Tshwane
- City of Cape Town (PDF)
- Nelson Mandela Bay
- eThekwini
- Manguang
- Buffalo City
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.
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