Eskom announces weekend load-shedding timetable

3 years ago 2

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Eskom will rotate between stage 3 and stage 4 load-shedding for most of this weekend.

The current implementation of stage 4 day-time load-shedding will be followed by stage 5 on Friday evening and early Saturday morning.

Eskom will then drop load-shedding to stage 3 between 05:00 and 16:00 on Saturday and Sunday, and stage 4 over the remaining evening and early morning hours on both days.

On Monday, Eskom is currently planning to implement stage 4 day-time load-shedding and stage 5 over the evening.

The slight reduction in load-shedding was possible due to lower weekend demand and the return to service of some generating units.

“Since yesterday [Thursday] morning, a generating unit each at Hendrina, Lethabo and Tutuka power stations have returned to service,” Eskom said.

However, over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at Camden, Kendal, and Majuba power stations, and two generating units at the Duvha power station were taken out of service due to breakdowns.

“Furthermore, the delay in returning units to service at Arnot, Camden, Hendrina, Kendal and Matla power stations continues to add to the current capacity constraints,” Eskom added.

At the time of announcing its load-shedding schedule for the weekend, Eskom said its unplanned breakdowns stood at 17,245MW of capacity.

Generating capacity that was out of service due to planned maintenance amounted to 4,468MW.

Eskom thanked South Africans who used electricity sparingly and efficiently, particularly those who switched their geysers off between 17:00 and 21:00 in the evening to help alleviate pressure on the grid and avoid higher load-shedding stages.

The utility said it would publish a further update as soon as any significant changes occurred.

The table below shows the load-shedding schedule between Friday, 5 May 2023, to Monday, 8 May 2023.

Load-shedding schedule for 5–8 May 2023 Date Day Day-time (05:00–16:00) Evening (16:00–05:00)