By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will alternate between Stages 2 and 3 from Tuesday until further notice.
The group said that due to intensified maintenance and the loss of six generating units – as well as three generating units not coming back online as had been anticipated – load shedding will be implemented on Tuesday.
Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 05h00 on Tuesday (2 January) until 16h00. Thereafter, stage 3 load shedding will be implemented until 05h00 on Wednesday.
This pattern of stage 2 and stage 3 load shedding is expected to be repeated until further notice.
“Eskom will closely monitor the power system and communicate any changes should it be required. Unplanned outages are currently at 16,231MW of generating capacity, while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 8,451MW,” it said.
Eskom said it is working to restore just under 5,000MW of generating capacity by the end of the week.
The return of load shedding follows warnings from analysts at the end of 2023, who said that the power utility was likely to come under strain again in the new year as user demand kicks up.
While load shedding has been suspended for close to three weeks, Eskom has still been operating on a knife’s edge with low EAF, benefitting mostly from lower demand and reduced breakdowns.
However, any slippage or breakdowns – as is now the case – is enough to push the country back to scheduled blackouts.
South Africa experienced 72.6 days of cumulative blackout hours in 2023.
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.