Eskom announces extended stage 3 load shedding – here’s the latest schedule
Power utility Eskom has announced that stage 3 load shedding on Wednesday will be extended
As previously communicated, Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented at 16h00 on Wednesday and Thursday. However, it will be extended to 05h00.
It was previously communicated that load shedding would be suspended at midnight.
“In order to replenish the dam levels at the pumped storage stations, load shedding will be extended until 05h00 (previously midnight). Similarly, Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented at 16h00 on Friday and continue until 05h00 on Saturday,” it said.
Wednesday, 19 October
- Stage 3 – 16h00 to 00h00
Thursday, 20 October
- NEW Stage 3 – 00h00 – 05h00
- Stage 3 – 16h00 to 00h00
Friday, 21 October
- NEW Stage 3 – 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 2 – 16h00 to 00h00
Saturday, 22 October
- NEW Stage 2 – 00h00 to 05h00
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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