Load shedding suspended for Saturday
Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will remain suspended on Saturday, only to return on Sunday.
The group said that, due to improved generation performance and lower-than-anticipated demand, load shedding will be suspended all of Saturday and Sunday through to 16h00.
Thereafter, stage 2 load shedding will resume until 05h00 on Monday.
Saturday, 30 September
- Suspended: until 00h00
Sunday, 1 October
- Suspended: 00h00 to 16h00
- Stage 2: 16h00 to 00h00
Monday, 2 October
- Stage 2: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage and time TBD
The grid remains under strain and unpredictable, so South Africans are warned that the situation can change at very short notice.
“Eskom will closely monitor the power system and communicate any change to load shedding should it be required,” it said.
Breakdowns are currently at 14,266MW of generating capacity while the capacity out of service for
planned maintenance is 5,388MW.
Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at Arnot, Duvha, Ingula and Vanderkloof power stations was taken offline for repairs.
In the same period, a generating unit at Hendrina Power Station was returned to service.
Eskom’s load forecast for the evening peak demand is 27,606MW.
Positively, Eskom’s current outages are lower than the target set for its forward-looking forcarst, which is set at 14,500MW.
If the group manages to maintain outages at or below these levels, Eskom has a higher chance of keeping load shedding capped at stage 4 in the coming months as demand picks up.
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: Stage 16 load shedding – South Africans get to have their say
Loading ...