Eskom announces load shedding changes for the week – here’s the new schedule
Power utility Eskom has announced changes to the load shedding schedule for the week.
Stage 4 load shedding will continue to be implemented on Tuesday until midnight before dropping to stage 3 and stage 2 for the rest of the week. The times are as follows:
Tuesday, 18 October
- Stage 4 – 05h30 to 00h00
Wednesday, 19 October
- Stage 2 – 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3 – 16h00 to 00h00
Thursday, 20 October
- Stage 3 – 16h00 to 00h00
Friday, 21 October
- Stage 2 – 16h00 to 00h00
Eskom said it will publish a further update on Friday afternoon, or as soon as any further significant changes occur.
“Since yesterday morning a unit each at Duvha, Medupi as well as three units at Kendal power stations have returned to service. A generation unit each at Arnot, Camden, Tutuka and Kusile power stations remain out of service following breakdowns in the past 24 hours,” it said.
The group currently has 5,106MW on planned maintenance, while another 15,576MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
Load shedding was previously expected to remain at stage 2 until Wednesday and only be implemented in the evening peak between 16h00 and 00h00. However, Eskom’s ageing fleet of power stations operates on the edge of collapse, with any breakdown forcing the power utility to enter higher stages of rolling blackouts.
Chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer warned last week that the country will be dealing with persistent load shedding for at least 18 months before new generating capacity can be added to the grid.
“We need another year or year-and-a-half to get out of this,” Oberholzer said at the Agri SA conference near Johannesburg on Thursday. “We are going to go through a tough time over the next year and a half.”
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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