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Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will be eased further this week, moving down to stage 3 during the day.
Load shedding will continue at stage 4 on Tuesday (14 march).
From Wednesday (15 March) stage 3 load shedding will take place between 05h00 and 16h00, moving up to stage 4 in the evenings. This rotation will continue until further notice, it said.
The schedule looks as follows:
Tuesday, 14 March
Wednesday, 15 March
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Thursday, 16 March
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Friday, 17 March
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
The reduction in load shedding is due to a recovery in generating capacity.
“Over the past 48 hours, the repairs to the damaged towers from Cahora Bassa in Mozambique were completed and restored to full capacity. We have successfully returned to service a generating unit each at Arnot, Grootvlei, Kriel, and Tutuka power stations.
During the same period a generating unit each at Lethabo, and two units at Kriel power stations were taken offline for repairs.
The return to service of a generating unit each at Hendrina and Medupi power stations are delayed.
Breakdowns are currently reduced to 13,949MW of generating capacity while 4,322MW of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance.
South Africa has been in a near-permanent state of load shedding since September 2022, with the 14 March marking the 73rd day of load shedding this year, and the 135th consecutive day of load shedding since October 2022.
The government has taken steps to address the ongoing power crisis in the country, however, none of the solutions – which include building up new generation capacity and procuring additional energy from private producers – are short-term, leaving the country in a precarious position heading into winter.
Other policy shifts, such as incentivising the rollout of rooftop solar and encouraging investment into renewable projects, are also being hamstrung by grid limitations.
Energy experts have warned that load shedding is likely to get worse as demand ramps up in winter.
Meanwhile, households, businesses and the South African economy at large continue to suffer from the damage being caused by rolling blackouts through lost productivity and personal costs involved with mitigation efforts.
South Africa’s economy contracted by 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022, with analysts anticipating the same for the first quarter of 2023, putting the country into a technical recession.
As long as the power crisis persists, growth will be hampered, which will ripple throughout the economy, affecting investment, business operations, jobs and the cost of living.
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.