Here’s the load shedding schedule for the week ahead
Eskom says that it will continue with stage 3 and stage 4 load shedding this week.
Eskom will continue implementing Stage 3 load shedding between 05h00 and 16h00, and stage 4 load shedding between 16h00 and 05h00 daily.
This will continue until further notice, the group said, with any significant changes being announced as necessary.
The higher levels of load shedding are necessary due to continued high levels of breakdowns, which currently amount to 17,035MW while planned maintenance is 6 189MW.
The schedule for the week is as follows:
Monday, 9 January 2023
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Tuesday, 10 January 2023
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Wednesday, 11 January 2023
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Thursday, 12 January 2023
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Friday, 13 January 2023
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
South Africa is likely to sit with prolonged levels of load shedding for the foreseeable future. In December 2022, 1,000MW was removed from the grid through Koeberg unit 1 being taken offline, and approximately 3,000MW is offline from various breakdowns at Kusile and Medupi.
According to Eskom’s outlook for the next year, it needs to keep breakdowns below 13,000MW to stave off the worst of load shedding, but the utility has struggled to keep outages below 16,000MW – the worst-case scenario in its plans.
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter also recently announced his resignation on the back of the worst levels of load shedding on record. While Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan acknowledged that de Ruyter is not to blame for the load shedding, the power utility has not been able to resolve the crisis under his leadership.
De Ruyter will be leaving the company at the end of March 2023. Eskom is still looking for his replacement.
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.
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