Eskom pushing load shedding higher
Power utility Eskom says that it will be escalating load shedding on Tuesday following the breakdown of units at its power stations.
The group said that it has experienced breakdowns of a unit each at Arnot, Majuba and Medupi power stations, leading to additional strain on the national grid.
Instead of moving to stage 3 on Tuesday, as previously communicated, load shedding will be at stage 4 during the day. The schedule will then continue as previously announced, moving to stage 5 in the evening.
Eskom said it intends to return to the previously announced schedule of stage 3 during the day and stage 5 in the evenings until further notice.
Monday, 22 May
- Stage 5: until 00h00
Tuesday, 23 May
- Stage 5: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 4: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 5: 16h00 to 00h00
Wednesday, 24 May
- Stage 5: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 5: 16h00 to 00h00
The rotation of stage 3 and stage 5 load shedding is currently Eskom’s best-case scenario for rolling blackouts during the winter peak – that the utility is unable to maintain it right now with any consistency puts the company on the back foot as colder weather sets in.
In Eskom’s latest system update, the group warned that if unplanned outages exceed 18,000MW during months of peak winter demand, there is a high likelihood that stage 8 load shedding will have to be implemented.
Breakdowns over the weekend – during periods of low demand – were already around 16,500MW.
Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) chief executive Busi Mavuso said that stage 8 load shedding in the coming months is all but guaranteed and warned that companies will have to buckle down for additional costs and further pressure on their bottom lines.
Stage 8 load shedding implies half of the day will be without electricity, and businesses continue to suffer greatly.
For companies running diesel-powered generators during outages, consumption is likely to spike, creating logistics and storage challenges, as well as extensive costs.
“Already the cost of dealing with load shedding is a major driver of inflation and is doing serious damage to the profitability of companies. This will require extensive contingency planning by businesses across the country,” Mavuso said.
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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