Stage 4 load shedding to stick around for longer – here’s the new schedule

Power utility Eskom says that stage 4 load shedding will stick around until further notice, with the plan to try and ease outages during the day.

The group said that stage 4 load shedding will continue all of Monday (10 July) through to 05h00 on Tuesday.

Thereafter, stage 2 load shedding will be implemented until 14h00, followed by stage 4 load shedding through to 05h00 on Wednesday.

This marks a shift in the rotational hours, which have been on a 16h00/05h00 split until now. Stage 4 load shedding was last implemented on 11 June.

Eskom said the stage 2 and 4 rotations will continue daily until further notice.

The schedule is as follows:

Monday, 10 July

• Stage 4: until 00h00

Tuesday, 11 July

• Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
• Stage 2: 05h00 to 14h00
• Stage 4: 14h00 to 00h00

Wednesday, 12 July

• Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
• Stage 2: 05h00 to 14h00
• Stage 4: 14h00 to 00h00

The sudden shift to a higher stage of load shedding is due to increased demand on account of the freezing cold weather that has hit the country – particularly inland areas and Gauteng, where snowfall has been recorded.

Breakdowns have been largely contained under the power utility’s “best-case” plan for winter, with 14,252MW of generating capacity out (best-case being 15,000MW).

The generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 4,118MW.

Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at Duvha, Hendrina, Kendal, Kriel, Matimba and Medupi power stations were returned to service.

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

The delay in returning to service two generating units at Tutuka Power Station is contributing to the current capacity constraints.

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: South Africa is living the ‘best-case scenario’ for load shedding