Power utility Eskom has announced indefinite stage 5 load shedding due to higher-than-anticipated demand.<\/p>\n
Stage 5 load shedding will continue from 05h00 (12 April) until further notice. Eskom will provide an update later this afternoon.<\/p>\n
Cape Town will, however, will only have stage 4 load shedding, the city said.<\/p>\n
The municipality is able to reduce higher levels of load shedding through its 180MW Steenbras pumped-storage dam.<\/p>\n
This announcement follows Eskom suspending load shedding for periods of the Easter weekend. The country has been near-permanent load shedding since September 2022, only breaking from the blackouts for three days.<\/p>\n
The South African Reserve Bank anticipates the country to face a total of 250 days of load shedding – stalling businesses and hampering economic growth.<\/p>\n
Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and analysts alike have said that South Africa may be in for a cold dark winter. According to the City of Cape Town, colder temperatures typically amount to higher power usage.<\/p>\n
The city added that if electrical appliances are not switched off prior to load-shedding, it could take longer to restore power after load-shedding. If you’d like to reduce the risk of extended outages, please switch off.<\/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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