Eskom pushes load shedding higher – here’s the latest schedule
Power utility Eskom says that delays in returning units to operation is causing a generation shortfall, leading to higher stages of load shedding on Wednesday (28 June).
Load shedding will be pushed to stage 2 from 07h00 until 16h00. After that, stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 16h00 until midnight.
The utility said that it will publish an update during the course of the day.
Wednesday, 28 June
- Suspended: until 07h00
- Stage 2: 07h00 to 16h00
- Stage 3: 16h00 to 00h00
Thursday, 29 June
- TBD
The sudden change breaks a three-week trend of suspending load shedding during the day and only keeping blackouts to the evening.
Eskom has been implementing stage 1 load shedding during the day over the weekends, but has still managed to suspend outages for at least some periods.
While South Africans, businesses and stakeholders have welcomed the reprieve, energy experts have continued to caution that Eskom’s grid remains volatile and conditions are subject to change at short notice.
Eskom has managed to keep load shedding at lower stages due to increased generation performance, with its energy availability factor (EAF) hitting 60%.
It has also been aided, however, by lower-than-expected demand, and better plant performance thanks to cooler weather. Higher winter tariffs for industrial users have disincentivised excessive use, and a seasonal reduction in planned maintenance have also been big contributors.
While Eskom’s position remains tenuous, and load shedding could escalate on any slight change, the outlook for later this year and into 2024 is more hopeful, with more generating capacity expected to come online.
The utility has been granted environmental exemptions that will allow it to bring several Kusile units back online. These will start returning in November 2023, adding around 2,100MW back to the grid.
New generating capacity is also expected to be connected around the same time as projects start to bear fruit.
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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