Load shedding pushed to stage 4 until further notice
Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will be pushed to stage 4 at 18h00 on Tuesday (4 October) until further notice.
“A generation unit each at Kendal and Lethabo power stations have just tripped. This necessitates the immediate escalation of load shedding to Stage 4 at 18h00. This stage of load shedding will be maintained until further notice,” it said.
The latest breakdowns follow weeks of strained generating capacity for the utility, which was forced into stage 6 load shedding more than two weeks ago.
The group has had to contend with repeated trips and breakdowns, diesel supply shortages and suspected acts of sabotage at the Camden power station which brought the entire station down for two days over the weekend.
A move back to stage 4 also comes amid the worst period of load shedding in the company’s history.
According to EskomSePush, as of the start of this week (3 October), the country has experienced 1,949 hours (81 days) of national load shedding in 2022.
This is significantly higher than the 1,153 hours over 48 days in 2021 and the 844 hours over 35 days in 2020.
Presenting its system status and outlook to the joint portfolio committee on public enterprises and mineral resources and energy in August, Eskom’s forecast for load shedding over the next few months and extending into 2023 is bleak.
In the group’s baseline scenario of having around 13,000MW of power taken off the grid due to unplanned outages, the power utility presents an optimistic forecast of only a few days of low-stage load shedding through to August 2023.
However, it has so far been unable to meet this already low bar. In its worst-case scenario, where outages exceed 16,000MW, stage 3 and stage 4 load shedding are the daily norm, with Eskom relying on billions of rands’ worth of diesel to keep the blackouts capped.
South Africa’s horror year of load shedding – here’s how it compares
Schedules
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.
Read: Eskom clarifies stage 15 load shedding warning for South Africa
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