Load shedding cut to stage 3 on Wednesday

Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will be reduced to stage 3 on Wednesday (20 April) from 22h00.

This comes after six generating units were returned to service over the last 24 hours, and three more are expected to return on Thursday.

“A generation unit each at the Arnot and Kendal power stations returned to service during the day, adding to the two Lethabo units, and one each at Camden and Matla power stations that returned to service during the night. A unit each at the Majuba, Matimba and Arnot power stations are set to return to service by tomorrow. 

“Altogether, this will boost generation capacity and ease the constraints ahead of the weekend, in which we also expect lower demand,” Eskom said.

The power utility said that it has 5,787MW on planned maintenance, while another 14,259MW of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns.

Load shedding will continue at stage 3 until Friday, the group said, adding that generation capacity is expected to be boosted ahead of the weekend, where lower demand is also anticipated.

“Eskom will continue to adjust the stage of load shedding depending on the level of breakdowns,” it said.

#PowerAlert1

Loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 3 at 22:00, and remain in force until Friday as Eskom works on returning more units to service pic.twitter.com/uR3PR1IQV8

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) April 20, 2022

In a media briefing on Wednesday morning, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said that the utility is hopeful that load shedding could be lifted entirely by the start of the weekend – although de Ruyter stressed that there is still uncertainty in the system.

Eskom’s updated winter energy forecast indicates that load shedding is likely to continue in the coming months unless it can manage unplanned outages.

In a media briefing on Tuesday, Eskom laid out three scenarios:

• In the best case, Eskom said that if it can keep unplanned outages below 12,500MW then there will be zero days of load shedding in the coming months.
• A medium-case scenario would see the country face seven days of load shedding,
• In an extreme scenario, the country would see 101 days of load shedding.

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 hopes to lift load shedding by the weekend