Stage 2 load shedding all week, with a break during the day – here is the new schedule

3 years ago 1

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Power utility Eskom says that load shedding will be suspended briefly at midnight on Sunday but will resume at stage 1 on Monday morning.

Thereafter, stage 2 load shedding will kick in overnight, and this is expected to continue until further notice.

Sunday, 27 November

Stage 2: until 00h00

Monday, 28 November

Stage 1: 05h00 to 16h00
Stage 2: 16h00 to 00h00

Tuesday, 29 November

Stage 2: 00h00 to 05h00
No load shedding: 05h00 to 16h00
Stage2: 16h00 to 00h00

Wednesday, 30 November, and beyond until further notice

Stage 2: 00h00 to 05h00
No load shedding: 05h00 to 16h00
Stage2: 16h00 to 00h00

“It is anticipated that no load shedding will be implemented during the day from Tuesday. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes,” it said.

The continued implementation of load shedding is mainly due to the high levels of breakdowns and the limited emergency generation reserves.

The utility said it currently has 5,032MW on planned maintenance, while another 16,390MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

#PowerAlert1

Loadshedding will be suspended at midnight, then resume with Stage 1 at 05:00 – 16:00 whereafter
Stage 2 loadshedding will be then implemented from 16:00 throughout the night. pic.twitter.com/1P2yqfbfzy

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) November 27, 2022

South Africans have become accustomed to ongoing bouts of stage 2 load shedding, which have become the norm, but with a key unit in Eskom’s fleet coming offline in December for maintenance – and staying offline until the middle of next year – the risk of load shedding at even higher stages, for longer periods, is high.

In addition to this, critical failures, explosions and sabotage are also dragging on supply, with many of these issues anticipated to keep the grid under strain for the next 12 months.

Addressing the media this week, president Cyril Ramaphosa said he is confident that Eskom, the government and stakeholders in the energy sector will overcome the load shedding challenge and bring an end to rolling blackouts.

This has been a promise from the government over the last 15 years.

The president said that it is easy to blame the government for persistent load shedding, but he said that the issues have persisted since at least 2007, long before the current administration came into power.

He has pinned his hopes for an end to the crisis on a wide-reaching energy plan that will see the rapid development of new green energy projects, alongside procurement of energy from the private sector.

Schedules

For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:

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: Ramaphosa: It’s easy to blame the president for load shedding, but…