Power utility Eskom says that it will be escalating load shedding on Tuesday following the breakdown of units at its power stations.<\/p>\n
The group said that it has experienced breakdowns of a unit each at Arnot, Majuba and Medupi power stations, leading to additional strain on the national grid.<\/p>\n
Instead of moving to stage 3 on Tuesday, as previously communicated, load shedding will be at stage 4 during the day. The schedule will then continue as previously announced, moving to stage 5 in the evening.<\/p>\n
Eskom said it intends to return to the previously announced schedule of stage 3 during the day and stage 5 in the evenings until further notice.<\/p>\n
Monday, 22 May<\/strong><\/p>\n Tuesday, 23 May<\/strong><\/p>\n Wednesday, 24 May<\/strong><\/p>\n The rotation of stage 3 and stage 5 load shedding is currently Eskom’s best-case scenario for rolling blackouts during the winter peak – that the utility is unable to maintain it right now with any consistency puts the company on the back foot as colder weather sets in.<\/p>\n In Eskom’s latest system update, the group warned that if unplanned outages exceed 18,000MW during months of peak winter demand, there is a high likelihood that stage 8 load shedding will have to be implemented.<\/p>\n Breakdowns over the weekend – during periods of low demand – were already around 16,500MW.<\/p>\n Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) chief executive Busi Mavuso said that stage 8 load shedding in the coming months is all but guaranteed and warned that companies will have to buckle down for additional costs and further pressure on their bottom lines.<\/p>\n Stage 8 load shedding implies half of the day will be without electricity, and businesses continue to suffer greatly.<\/p>\n For companies running diesel-powered generators during outages, consumption is likely to spike, creating logistics and storage challenges, as well as extensive costs.<\/p>\n \u201cAlready the cost of dealing with load shedding is a major driver of inflation and is doing serious damage to the profitability of companies. This will require extensive contingency planning by businesses across the country,\u201d Mavuso said.<\/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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