By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Eskom has announced the continuation of stage 2 load shedding from Wednesday (12 October) until Thursday (13 October) between 16:00 and 00:00.
The company noted that stage 1 load shedding will follow on Friday (14 October) between 16:00 and 00:00.
Eskom said that it will attempt to limit the amount of rolling blackouts during the evening to try and limit the impact it has on the economy and population.
Eskom said it will publish a further update on load shedding on Friday afternoon, or as soon as any significant changes occur.
“Since Tuesday a generation unit each at Camden, Kriel, Kusile, Matla and Medupi power stations were returned to service. Two generating units at Majuba and one at Tutuka power stations were taken offline for repairs,” said Eskom.
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.
Meanwhile EThekwini Municipality said Wednesday, that electricity has been restored in most areas affected by a major power outage following a trip at its Klaarwater major substation, which left many parts of the city in the dark.
An explosion at the 275kv Klaarwater electricity substation, which is a key supply point to the City from Eskom, occurred on Tuesday evening, causing multiple power outages across large parts of Durban and surrounding areas.
In a statement on Wednesday, the municipality said the City’s Electricity Unit started to restore supply on Tuesday night, area by area.
“This is done in a controlled and very careful sequence to limit the risk of further faults and further damage. There is unfortunately confirmed extensive damage at our Shallcross substation, which could take up to 48 hours to repair, [and] unfortunately, some customers in this area will remain off for now.
“Our teams are working around the clock to restore supply to as many customers as quickly as possible, but at this juncture, we cannot provide specifics until we have completed our inspections, which cover an extensive area of overhead HV lines from the Klaarwater area as far as Waterfall in the outer west,” the municipality said.