All-day stage 4 load shedding this week – check your schedule
Power utility Eskom says that all-day stage 4 load shedding will be implemented this week until further notice.
While the group managed to reduce load shedding over the weekend, even reaching as low as stage 2, continued losses of generating units at its power stations necessitate higher stages during the week.
“Since Saturday, a generating unit each at Camden, Grootvlei, Lethabo and Majuba power stations suffered breakdowns and are undergoing repairs, while a unit each at Kriel and Lethabo power stations were returned to service. The return to service of a unit each at Duvha, Matla and Tutuka power stations have been delayed,” the group said.
Planned maintenance is sitting at 6,049MW, while breakdowns currently amount to 17,163MW of generating capacity.
To reduce load shedding to stage 2, Eskom needs to keep breakdowns under 13,000MW, however, the utility has not been able to do so.
Eskom is struggling with a highly volatile and unpredictable grid, which has resulted in several changes and escalations to the load shedding schedule in recent weeks. South Africans should expect the load shedding stages to fluctuate at short notice for the foreseeable future.
Eskom said that it will issue a notice if anything changes.
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula on Friday announced that president Cyril Ramaphosa and the national government were working on an “emergency package” of measures to mitigate load shedding – details of which are expected to be revealed in the coming week.
Parliament, meanwhile, has ramped up its oversight of Eskom and its board, engaging with the executive and labour over the last two days trying to understand the reason for the prolonged and elevated stages of blackouts.
The matter is complex. According to CEO Andre de Ruyter the utility has been hit by the perfect storm of issues.
On top of the well-reported challenges to the group’s coal fleet, the power utility has had to address the refurbishments and upgrades of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Stations, critical failures at Kusile and Medupi, as well as the lack of liquidity and constrained finances at the company that prevent it from operating things like the open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs).
The group has also had to deal with widespread criminality, which station managers have described as “rampant”.
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.
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