Eskom drops stage 5 load shedding – here’s the new schedule for the week
Power utility Eskom has announced that its load shedding schedule will be changed, dropping stage 5 and stage 3 from the week’s timetable.
Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented continuously until 05h00 on Tuesday morning. Thereafter Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented daily at 05h00 until 16h00. Stage 4 will be implemented daily from 16h00 to 05h00.
The schedule is as follows:
Monday, 21 November
- Stage 4: until 00h00
Tuesday, 22 November
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 2: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Wednesday, 23 November
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 2: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
This pattern will continue daily until further notice.
The changes come amid a desperate scramble by Eskom and the Department of Public Enterprises to find money to pay for diesel to generate power through the power utility’s open cycle gas turbines.
Stage 5 load shedding was initially scheduled for the week due to Eskom’s diesel reserves running dry, putting further strain on energy generation already tight due to continued breakdowns.
South Africa has been plunged into the worst year of load shedding on record, with everyday South Africans bearing the brunt of it, slowing economic growth and stalling the country’s day-to-day activities.
This is only set to get worse.
The national utility’s best-case scenario in its 12-month outlook envisions seven days of load shedding in the coming summer period, but only if it is able to spend billions of rands on diesel and keep breakdowns below 13,000MW – an ambitious goal, given its track record.
The group is already running over budget with no funds available to top up its diesel reserves which are meant to be solely for emergency generation. According to the company’s chief operating officer, Jan Oberholzer, Eskom has spent more than R11.2 billion on diesel this year to the end of October.
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 scrambles to avoid higher stages of load shedding
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