Stage 2 load shedding here to stay

Eskom says stage 2 load shedding will remain until further notice.

“Despite the return to service of five generating units in the last 36 hours, the need to replenish and stabilise the emergency reserves in preparation for the weekday electricity demand, as well as the marginally deteriorated available generation capacity, necessitates that Stage 2 load shedding continue to be implemented until further notice,” Eskom said.

Eskom said that it will monitor the system closely and provide a further outlook on Wednesday, 31 January afternoon.

Unplanned outages currently stand at 14,759 MW of generating capacity, with the capacity out of service for planned maintenance at 7,639MW.

Eskom said that its power station general managers are working to ensure that 2,320 MW of generating capacity returns to service by Wednesday.

The group’s load forecast for the evening peak demand tonight, 28 January, is 25,005 MW.

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: The only reason South Africa isn’t at stage 5 load shedding right now