Eskom eases load shedding to stage 3 until further notice

Power utility Eskom says that load shedding will be eased further, now sticking to stage 3 until further notice.

This is possible due to some improvements in the generation capacity over the past 24 hours, it said.

Previously, load shedding was to alternate between stage 3 during the day and stage 4 in the evenings.

Eskom will provide an update as soon as any significant changes occur.

South Africa has been in a near-permanent state of load shedding since September 2022, with the 15 March marking the 74th day of load shedding this year, and the 136th consecutive day of load shedding since October 2022.

The government has taken steps to address the ongoing power crisis in the country. However, none of the solutions – which include building up new generation capacity and procuring additional energy from private producers – are short-term, leaving the country in a precarious position heading into winter.

The embattled utility was granted an exemption by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment this week to allow the Kusile Power Station to speed up its return to service, however, even this is only expected to boost generating capacity by the end of 2023 at the earliest.

Other policy shifts, such as incentivising the rollout of rooftop solar and encouraging investment into renewable projects, are also being hamstrung by grid limitations.

Energy experts have warned that load shedding is likely to get worse as demand ramps up in winter.

Meanwhile, households, businesses and the South African economy at large continue to suffer from the damage being caused by rolling blackouts through lost productivity and personal costs involved with mitigation efforts.

South Africa’s economy contracted by 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022, with analysts anticipating the same for the first quarter of 2023, putting the country into a technical recession.

As long as the power crisis persists, growth will be hampered, which will ripple throughout the economy, affecting investment, business operations, jobs and the cost of living.

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’s ‘quick fix’ to cut load shedding by 2 stages gets the green light