Eskom suspends load shedding until evening today – here’s the new schedule

Eskom has suspended load shedding until later today before implementing stage 3 until Sunday.

Due to further improvement in generation capacity, load shedding will be suspended from 11:00 today until 16:00, Eskom said. Stage 3 load shedding will resume from 16:00 today until 05:00 on Sunday.

Thereafter, load shedding will continue to be implemented as previously communicated. Eskom will publish another update should any significant changes occur, it added.

Earlier in the week, Ramokgopa said South Africans should expect intensified power cuts to persist in the short term.

“We are going to stick to planned and philosophy maintenance. We do accept that in the short-term, it’s going to result in the possibility of intensified load shedding,” said Ramokgopa.

Eskom planned to shut down coal plants without introducing sufficient alternative energy generation. This is what caused load shedding, said the Ministry. 

Since being appointed Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa decided to delay the shutdown of Eskom’s coal power stations and fast-track the introduction of renewables.  

This means many stations must undergo intensive maintenance to improve their performance, resulting in elevated levels of load-shedding, the Ministry said. 

Schedules 

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

• City of Johannesburg
• City of Ekurhuleni 
• City of Tshwane 
• City of Cape Town (PDF)
• Nelson Mandela Bay
• eThekwini
• Manguang
• Buffalo City

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.