Eskom pushing load shedding higher this week – here’s the new schedule

Power utility Eskom says it will again escalate load shedding next week, pushing the country into a stage 4 and stage 5 rotation.

Stage 5 load shedding will be implemented from 16h00 on Sunday (28 May) until 05h00 on Monday.

Thereafter, stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 05h00 until 16h00, followed by stage 5 from 16h00 until 05h00 on Tuesday.

This pattern will be repeated daily until further notice, Eskom said.

Sunday, 28 May 

• Stage 2: until 16h00
• Stage 5: 16h00 to 00h00

Monday, 29 May 

• Stage 5: 00h00 to 05h00
• Stage 4: 05h00 to 16h00
• Stage 5: 16h00 to 00h00

Tuesday, 30 May 

• Stage 5: 00h00 to 05h00
• Stage 4: 05h00 to 16h00
• Stage 5: 16h00 to 00h00

Breakdowns are currently at 18,144MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 3,427MW.

Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at Arnot, Camden, Kendal and Palmiet power stations were returned to service.

In the same period, a generation unit each at Matla and Tutuka power stations were taken out of service due to breakdowns.

Furthermore, the delay in returning to service a unit at Arnot, Hendrina, Kendal, Kriel, Lethabo, Matimba, Tutuka and two generating units at Camden power stations continue to add to the current capacity constraints.

Outages are current tracking at to the ‘worse-case scenario’ in Eskom’s latest winter outlook, where it said it will have to keep unplanned outages below 18,000MW to avoid stage 8 load shedding.

The group needs to keep these outages contained and below 15,000MW to keep the ‘best-case’ scenario of stage 3 to stage 5 load shedding a reality.

It must also be noted that eThekwini has also returned to full load shedding from 25 May 2023, which means regions that were previously exempt from load shedding up to stage 4 will now see blackouts hit from stage 1.

The municipality has published new schedules for the region, which can be accessed below.

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 looking into new power station that could cut load shedding by 3 stages