Stage 2 load shedding until further notice, says Eskom
Power utility Eskom says that stage 2 load shedding will continue until Wednesday (17 January).
The group said that there has been a sustained improvement in generation capacity and user demand is expected to remain muted.
However, with almost 13,500MW still offline due to breakdowns and another 8,400MW offline due to maintenance, load shedding will still be in effect.
Stage 2 load shedding will continue until 16h00 on Wednesday, it said, when a further update will be published.
“Eskom will closely monitor the power system and communicate any changes should it be required,” it said.
Eskom teams are currently working to get at least 740MW of energy back online by Monday evening, with the group anticipating evening peak demand of 25,500MW.
The downgrade to stage 2 follows a sudden escalation to stage 4 on Friday.
According to independent energy analyst Pieter Jordaan, the main culprit for the escalation in load shedding this year has been Eskom’s planned maintenance schedule.
While the utility is eager to take advantage of periods of low demand to do extra maintenance, it struggles to bring the units back in time to meet surges in demand.
“The near 2,000 MW of planned losses that did not return on time (on Friday) introduced 2.5 stages of unnecessary load shedding,” Jordaan said.
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.
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