Power utility Eskom says that load shedding will be reduced over the weekend, dropping to stage 2 by Sunday.<\/p>\n
Load shedding will be maintained at stage 4 in the evenings between 16h00 and 05h00. It will then be lowered to stage 3 between 05h00 and 16h00 during the day before being reduced to stage 2 on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
A full statement will be published on Sunday, the group said.<\/p>\n
Eskom’s expected weekend schedule is as follows:<\/p>\n
Friday, 20 January<\/strong><\/p>\n Saturday, 21 January<\/strong><\/p>\n Sunday, 22 January<\/strong><\/p>\n President Cyril Ramaphosa has been in meetings with stakeholders this week to try and find a solution to the ongoing energy crisis, which is wreaking havoc on the country and its economy.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s National Energy Crisis Committee, a body run by Ramaphosa\u2019s office, said earlier this week that a range of interventions has been made to mitigate the energy crisis \u2013 including new laws to speed up the approval and development of power plants \u2013 but no details or timelines have been delivered.<\/p>\n Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan said that Eskom was in the process of finalising its plans to take further urgent steps to stabilise the power station\u2019s performance and reliability but provided no details or timelines.<\/p>\n Eskom is facing a massive energy shortfall, with experts pointing to at least 10,000MW being needed to help stave off rolling blackouts.<\/p>\n The utility’s woes are compounded by a severe lack of funds to secure enough diesel to prop up its open-cycle gas turbines, which are needed to stabilise the grid and alleviate stress during peaks.<\/p>\n Load shedding has already caused major metros across the country to issue alerts, warning of extended outages, extensive damage to infrastructure and elevated levels of criminality as a result of the outages.<\/p>\n South Africans have been warned to expect worse to come as industries ramp up production following the December period, and as demand increases heading into the colder months near the middle of the year.<\/p>\n Schedules\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:<\/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\n
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