Eskom ramps up load shedding for the weekend – here’s the schedule

Power utility will ramp up load shedding this weekend, with stages shifting between stage 1 and stage 3.

This marks a return to all-day load shedding after a few days with suspensions this week.

Stage 2 load shedding will kick in from 16h00 on Friday, escalating to stage 3 from 20h00.

Stage 2 load shedding will also be in effect for most of the day on Saturday, and stage 1 on Sunday.

The schedule is below:

Friday, 22 March

• Suspended: until 16h00
• Stage 2: 16h00 to 20h00
• Stage 3: 20h00 to 00h00

Saturday, 23 March

• Stage 3: 00h00 to 05h00
• Stage 2: 05h00 to 20h00
• Stage 3: 20h00 to 00h00

Sunday, 24 March

• Stage 3: 00h00 to 05h00
• Stage 1: 05h00 to 16h00
• Stage TBD: 16h00 to 00h00

Eskom said it will closely monitor the power system and provide an update on Sunday afternoon.

Unplanned outages account for 15,409MW of generating capacity, while the capacity out of service for
planned maintenance is 6,261MW.

A total of 3,570MW of generating capacity is anticipated to return to service by Monday.

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