Eskom announces all-day stage 6 load shedding until further notice
Update: Due to further delays in returning units back to service, Eskom said that load shedding will be permanently set to stage 6 until further notice.
Power utility Eskom says that load shedding will be escalated to stage 6 for the rest of the week.
Stage 5 load shedding will still be in effect during the day between 05h00 and 16h00, but stage 6 will kick in from 16h00 overnight to 05h00.
The full schedule is below:
Tuesday, 12 September
- Stage 5: until 16h00
- Stage 6: 16h00 to 00h00
Wednesday, 13 September
- Stage 6: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 5: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 6: 16h00 to 00h00
Thursday, 14 September
- Stage 6: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 5: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 6: 16h00 to 00h00
Friday, 15 September
- Stage 6: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 5: 05h00 to 00h00
The escalation is due to the loss of additional generating units overnight, which has pushed the group’s unplanned outages to almost 16,800MW.
At the same time, planned maintenance is up to around 5,000MW.
Over a period of 24 hours, a generation unit each at Camden, Duvha and Kendal was returned to service, Eskom said.
However, at the same time, a generating unit each at Duvha, Grootvlei, Kendal and Matla power stations were taken offline for repairs.
The delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Hendrina, Kendal, Matimba and Matla power stations is also contributing to the current capacity constraints.
The entire situation is being exacerbated by the need to replenish the emergency generation reserves and increased planned maintenance – the latter of which is the go-to explanation for intensified outage for electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
The minister warned this past weekend that while planned maintenance is being ramped up, any unplanned outages or delays in getting units back online would mean that load shedding would have to be intensified.
“If (planned maintenance) coincides with a number of units failing on their own, then you are exposed. And the only option available to us is intensified load shedding,” he said.
He stressed that the government and Eskom would not compromise on the ramping up planned maintenance.
“It is a calculated risk. We are going to do this the right way; we are going to fix these units. It’s a short-term pain for long-term gain,” he 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.
Read: De Ruyter’s intelligence reports exposing corruption at Eskom – Hawks taking action
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