Eskom to ease load shedding this weekend – here is the new schedule

Power utility Eskom says that it will gradually ease load shedding over the weekend, and hopes to suspend outages on Sunday.

In order to allow further replenishment of the pumped storage dams, stage 2 load shedding will continue on Friday until 05h00 on Saturday morning.

Thereafter, stage 1 load shedding will be implemented from 05h00 until 05h00 on Sunday.

On Sunday, load shedding will be suspended from 05h00 until 16h00. Stage 1 load shedding will then resume from 16h00 until 05:00 on Monday.

Eskom said it will communicate any changes as soon as they occur, with an update on the schedule for next week anticipated on Sunday.

The schedule is as follows:

Friday, 6 October

• Stage2: until 00h00

Saturday, 7 October

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

Sunday, 8 October

• Stage 1: 00h00 to 05h00
• Suspended: 05h00 to 16h00
• Stage 1: 16h00 to 00h00

Monday, 9 October

• Stage 1: 00h00 to 05h00
• Stage and time TBD

Eskom has managed to keep load shedding at much lower stages this past week, following the return of a unit of Kusile to the grid as well as much lower demand.

According to the group’s summer outlook, it needs to keep unplanned outages below 14,000MW to prevent outages from escalating beyond stage 4. This represents its ‘best case scenario’, which is currently being kept to.

However, energy expert Hilton Trollip told Newzroom Afrika this week that banking on the best-case scenarios has historically been a bad idea, with Eskom previously missing every single one of its goals set in previous outlooks and hitting, at the very best, its middle scenario.

Load-shedding has proven to be highly variable, fluctuating between no power cuts and stage 6 due to Eskom’s performance being unpredictable. 

There is no indication that this will change, said Trollip, considering Eskom’s history of poor maintenance and management of large infrastructure projects such as Kusile and Medupi. 

One also has to consider that the units Eskom plans to return at Kusile and Medupi have had historical problems, and it is unlikely that they will return to service smoothly. 

“You do not, as Eskom, put up a best-case scenario and expect credibility,” Trollip said. “They are not doing themselves, the country, or Eskom any favours by making these statements.”

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: Load shedding billions – how much South Africa is losing to blackouts