Daytime load shedding sticking around for the weekend – here’s the new schedule
Power utility Eskom says it expects to keep daytime load shedding running through to the weekend – with the next 16-hour suspension only anticipated on Sunday.
The group said that the current rotation of load shedding being suspended from midnight to 05h00, stage 1 hitting until 16h00, and stage 3 continuing in the evening will continue through to Saturday.
On Sunday, load shedding will be suspended from midnight to 16h00, before moving to stage 3 in the evening.
Suspension will continue on Monday until 05h00 or until the utility provides an update.
The slight increase in load shedding is due to breakdowns climbing slightly to 15,100MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance has also increased to 5,252MW.
Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit at Arnot Power Station was returned to service.
In the same period, a generation unit at Matimba Power Station was taken out of service due to a breakdown.
The delay in returning to service two generating units at Tutuka Power Station is contributing to the current capacity constraints.
Despite South Africa experiencing less load shedding than anticipated in recent weeks, energy experts warn that the grid remains under severe pressure.
Professor Mark Swilling said South Africa would likely go back into stage four and stage six load-shedding in the near future and before the end of winter as weather conditions shift.
Swilling said the lower load-shedding stages South Africa has experienced over the past few weeks are due to a combination of unique conditions that the country should not expect to last forever – such as big industries cutting demand due to higher tariffs, fewer unplanned breakdowns, lower planned maintenance and higher-than-expected output from wind generation.
This warning has been echoed by other sectors as well, with the Reserve Bank (SARB) also noting in a report this week that energy generation is unlikely to meet demand sustainably until at least midway through 2024.
Aside from improving generation from existing plants, new energy generation – of which at least 10GW is needed, according to Swilling – will still take time to come online.
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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