Load shedding to continue all weekend – here’s the latest schedule
Power utility Eskom has published the latest load shedding schedules from Thursday (20 October) through to Sunday (23 October) following the breakdown of additional units overnight.
The group was forced to keep load shedding at stage 3 on Thursday morning but now plans to only extend it through to 05h00 on Friday. Thereafter, load shedding will continue intermittently at stage 3 and stage 2 through to Sunday.
The updated schedule is as follows:
Thursday, 20 October
- Stage 3: 05h00 – 00h00
Friday, 21 October
- Stage 3: 00h00 – 05h00
- Stage 3: 16h00 – 00h00
Saturday, 22 October
- Stage 3: 00h00 – 05h00
- Stage 2: 05h00 – 00h00
Sunday, 23 October
- Stage 2: All day to 00h00
Eskom said it will publish a further update on Sunday, or as soon as any further significant changes occur.
“Breakdowns of five generating units overnight, two of which have returned to service, have exacerbated current generation capacity shortages, forcing the escalation of load shedding. Since this morning a generation unit each at Arnot and Kriel power stations have been returned to service,” it said.
Two generation units at Kendal and one at Kusile power stations were taken offline for repairs.
The group currently has 5,146MW on planned maintenance, while another 16,434MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
South Africans are entering their 143rd day of load shedding in 2022, making it the worst year on record. Its ageing fleet is unreliable, and units are breaking down and being taken offline with alarming regularity.
Analysts and Eskom itself have warned that things are going to get worse before they get better, with Eskom COO saying that load shedding will be a part of South African life for at least 18 months while new energy builds are implemented.
Intellidex analyst Peter Attard Montalto, meanwhile, has said that South Africans need to be realistic about the energy situation and expect higher stages of load shedding in the near term.
Eskom’s own load shedding forecast through to August 2023 paints a bleak picture for South Africa’s power situation, noting that it has to keep unplanned outages below 13,000MW to avoid load shedding. It has struggled to keep breakdowns below 16,000MW.
In scenarios where breakdowns exceed 16,000MW, the utility plans for near-permanent stage 3 and stage 4 load shedding, with excessive use of diesel generators to balance the demand. But even this scenario isn’t the full picture, as Eskom is effectively capped – through physical limitations – regarding how much diesel it can actually use.
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: Some South Africans get an extra hour of load shedding – here’s why
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