No break for load shedding during the Rugby World Cup – here’s the weekend schedule

·8 Sep 2023

Power utility Eskom says that some recoveries in generating capacity will allow it to ease load shedding slightly this weekend – but don’t expect an uninterrupted start to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Stage 5 load shedding will continue for the rest of Friday (8 September), running until 05h00 on Saturday.

Load shedding will then be downgraded to stage 3 until 16h00, where outages will then be ramped up to stage 4.

Eskom said that load shedding will downgraded to stage 1 on Sunday between 05h00 and 16h00, however, this will not be the case for South Africa’s first match in the World Cup.

South Africa’s first match against Scotland kicks off at 17h45 on Sunday (10 September), where stage 4 load shedding will again be in effect.

Here’s the full schedule:

Friday, 8 September

Stage 5: until 00h00

Saturday, 9 September

Stage 5: 00h00 – 05h00
Stage 3: 05h00 – 16h00
Stage 4: 16h00 – 00h00

Sunday, 10 September

Stage 4: 00h00 – 05h00
Stage 1: 05h00 – 16h00
Stage 4: 16h00 – 00h00

Eskom said it will publish another update on Sunday afternoon or should any significant changes occur.

Breakdowns have reduced to 15,895MW of generating capacity while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5,474MW.

Over the past 48 hours, a generating unit each at Camden and Kendal power stations was taken offline
for repairs.

In the same period, a generating unit each at Arnot, Kendal, Matla and Tutuka power stations was returned to service.

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: Unhappy birthday to permanent load shedding in South Africa

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