Eskom says it will implement stage 2 load shedding on Friday morning, which will continue throughout the day into Saturday.<\/p>\n
This follows the power utility having to extend load shedding on Thursday to the early hours of Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Initially planned for between 16h00 and 23h00 on Thursday, Eskom continued to lose generating capacity during the night, forcing it to extend the load shedding hours.<\/p>\n
As the group’s system remains extremely constrained, with unplanned outages exceeding 12,500MW, it will be forced to continue load shedding with extended hours.<\/p>\n
Eskom said that it is using diesel to ensure the stages do not escalate – of which is has sufficient supply – but it was unable to replenish its water resources overnight.<\/p>\n
Load shedding has been a lingering threat in South Africa since Eskom\u2019s systems collapsed in the first quarter of the year, doing massive damage to the economy.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg reported that the impact of load shedding on the economy ranged between R1 billion and R5 billion a day.<\/p>\n
The Department of Energy, National Treasury and the Department of Public Enterprises have been working since then to maintain the volatile balance between supply and demand on the network.<\/p>\n
Before winter, Eskom outlined a plan to keep the lights on for the remainder of 2019; a plan that hinged on unplanned maintenance on generating units never exceeding 9,500MW being taken offline.<\/p>\n
For those living in South Africa\u2019s major metros, here is where you can check to see when you will be hit:<\/p>\n
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on\u00a0loadshedding.eskom.co.za.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n
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