Load shedding changes for Saturday – here’s the latest schedule
Power utility Eskom says it will suspend load shedding earlier than planned on Saturday (8 July).
This is due to a better-than-expected recovery in generating capacity.
Load shedding will be suspended from 12h00 until 16h00, thereafter the schedule will resume as previously communicated with stage 3 load shedding implemented from 16h00 until midnight.
Load shedding will be suspended from midnight until 16h00 on Sunday.
The schedule is as follows:
Saturday, 8 July
- Stage 1: until 12h00
- Suspended: 12h00 to 16h00
- Stage 3: 16h00 to 00h00
Sunday, 9 July
- Suspended: 00h00 to 16h00
- Stage 3: 16h00 to 00h00
Monday, 10 July
- Suspended: 00h00 to 05h00
- TBD: 05h00 onwards
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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