Eskom to suspend load shedding for the rest of the week

Power utility Eskom says that anticipated lower demand for the rest of the week means it can suspend load shedding heading into the weekend.

Load shedding will be suspended from 05h00 on Thursday, the group said.

The drop in demand is likely tied to the public holiday on Thursday (21 March), with many businesses likely to close or scale back operations on Friday.

Given historical trends, load shedding is likely to return once demand picks up again in the new week. Eskom said it will issue a statement if anything changes.

The anticipated demand for this evening’s peak is 26,109MW, with unplanned outages at 14,335MW and planned maintenance at 6,073MW of generating capacity.

A total of 3,850MW of generating capacity is planned to return to service by Monday evening.

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: Sun City owner hit by 400% hike in load shedding bills