Eskom hopes to end load shedding next week – here’s the new schedule

Power utility Eskom says it hopes to suspend load shedding from Monday, 25 July, which would bring to an end over a month of continuous rolling blackouts.

The group published its latest load shedding schedule on Thursday (21 July), laying out the planned stages for the weekend.

Stage 2 load shedding will continue to be implemented from 16h00 until midnight on Thursday and Friday, before downgrading to stage 1 load shedding in the same time slots on Saturday and Sunday.

Barring any massive changes to energy generation, load shedding should be suspended entirely from Monday, however this is not yet confirmed.

“Load shedding has been confirmed until Saturday. During the weekend Eskom will communicate and confirm the outlook for the coming week,” it said.

South Africa has experienced continuous load shedding for over a month, after Eskom was forced to push the rolling blackouts to stage 6 for several days following illegal strikes at its power stations.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation “soon” on a package of interventions from the government to tackle South Africa’s power crisis more urgently.

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister, Ebrahim Patel, says the government is working on addressing load shedding.

Patel said once a solution has been found, an announcement will be made through the Minister of Energy.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Black Industrialists and Exporters’ Conference, Patel admitted that load shedding is not good for business.

In his keynote address at the conference, President Cyril Ramaphosa also spoke of the country’s energy challenge, saying this is being addressed.

“In particular, we need to act decisively and urgently to end the load shedding that is causing such damage to our economy and such disruption to our society. Like every other actor in the economy, black industrialists can simply not grow without a reliable supply of affordable energy.

“Much has been done over the last four years to transform the country’s energy landscape and bring new generation capacity online.

“But that is not enough, and we need to move faster. That is why I have brought together all relevant departments and entities to work on an integrated set of measures to add additional power to the grid in the shortest possible time.

“We are currently engaged in consultations with social partners on these measures, and will soon be able to announce a package of measures that provides an effective response to our energy crisis,” he 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.

Additional reporting by SANews

Read: Ramaphosa to announce load shedding ‘package’ for South Africa