Eskom pushes load shedding higher as supply falls short

 ·12 Aug 2023

Power utility Eskom says it will extend stage 3 load shedding indefinitely due to insufficient generating capacity.

Stage 3 load shedding will continue from 05h00 on Saturday until further notice.

A further update will be provided in the afternoon, it said.

The utility had initially planned on suspending load shedding during the day on Saturday and Sunday, while reducing evening load shedding to stage 2.

Near-permanent load shedding has been in effect for almost a whole year, with September marking the anniversary of South Africa’s descent into darkness.

While government officials and some energy experts are talking up the easing of load shedding going into the later parts of the year, rolling outages are likely to remain a fixture of daily life for the foreseeable future.

The blackouts have become so intense and so frequent that the energy sector has had to make provision for load shedding to get worse or even go beyond what is currently planned for.

To this end, energy regulator Nersa on Friday published new load shedding stages for public comment.

The proposed stages now go up to stage 16 and appear to alter the way in which the stages are determined, now basing the total megawatts removed on the demand profile at the time rather than the available load.

The consultation document, which details all 16 stages, can be read below:

Schedules 

For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:

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: New load shedding stages for South Africa – this is what happens if we hit stage 16

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