Eskom pushes load shedding higher
Power utility Eskom says that load shedding will be pushed higher on Tuesday, 21 November, due to the imminent forced shutdown of two generating units.
Load shedding will be pushed to stage 2 load shedding from 09h00 until 16h00 (previously stage 1).
Thereafter, stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 16h00 until 05h00 on Wednesday, as previously announced.
Stage 2 load shedding will again be implemented during the day on Wednesday, and the pattern of stage 2 and stage 3 will continue until further notice.
Tuesday, 21 November
- Stage 3: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 1: 05h00 to 09h00
- Stage 2: 09h00 to 16h00
- Stage 3: 16h00 to 24h00
Wednesday, 22 November
- Stage 3: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 2: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 3:16h00 to 00h00
Thursday, 23 November
- Stage 3: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 2: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 3:16h00 to 00h00.
The escalation in load shedding comes amid warnings from analysts as well as government officials that the grid remains unstable.
Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said on Sunday that power cuts had to be ramped up this week to replenish emergency reserves after Eskom lost a “cluster” of units from different power stations across the country.
This amounted to over 2,700 megawatts (MW), shy of three stages of load shedding.
“If we had not experienced that, of course, you would not be seeing the kind of intensity of load shedding that we are experiencing,” he said.
Independent energy analyst Pieter Jordaan warned that Eskom’s unplanned outages had entrenched above 30% in recent weeks, meaning any failures – or increased demand – would result in an escalation of load shedding.
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.
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