We hope you enjoyed your electricity-filled Sunday, for your load is about to be shed. Yesterday, Eskom announced the load-shedding plan for the first few days of this week. Compared to what we’ve had this year so far, it might even seem like a good thing.
Every South African will agree (except maybe Eskom chairperson Mpho Makwana) that the only load-shedding news worth celebrating is Eskom announcing its end. That’s definitely not what’s happening here. As we write this, Eskom has already made a change to this week’s schedule so we’d recommend the usual salt with any Eskom announcements.
How are you ‘celebrating’ Stage 1 load shedding?
Loadshedding will continue to be suspended until 05:00 on Monday. Thereafter, Stage 1 loadshedding will be implemented from 05:00 until 16:00 on Monday. pic.twitter.com/dDkDZQy5Lq
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) March 19, 2023
The power utility initially announced, following the brief respite on Sunday, Stage 1 will be implemented from 05:00 on Monday, 20 March until 16:00.
However, it recently tweeted that thanks to the “significantly lower than anticipated demand for electricity today”, the currently implemented Stage 1 will be suspended much earlier at 11:00 until 16:00 on Tuesday. Two guesses for the reason behind the “significantly lower than anticipated demand”.
Now, instead of Stage 2 on Monday night until 05:00 on Tuesday, 21 March, there should be no load shedding until Stage 2 returns at 16:00 on Tuesday. We’ll remain at Stage 2 until 16:00 on Wednesday where Stage 3 will take over until midnight. If that sounds hard to follow, then you should probably get ESP (Eskom se push) on Android or Apple if you don’t have it already.
Read More: Eskom gets the go-ahead to emit more sulphur dioxide to ease load shedding
Despite the reduced load-shedding stages, Eskom reports 15,645MW of offline generation capacity due to unplanned breakdowns and 4,942MW down for planned maintenance.
The utility was kind enough to thank South Africans for “continuing to use electricity sparingly to help alleviate the pressure on the power system.” Although maybe Eskom should rather give thanks to the businesses and homeowners who are tired of load shedding and have opted to supplement their electricity needs with self-bought solar power.