UPDATE (31/01/2025): Only a few hours after Eskom issued this warning, it was confirmed that the energy company will bring back load shedding to South Africa, ten months after it was suspended. Stage 3 will come into effect at 17h00 on Friday, 31 January 2025. Eskom has not yet confirmed how long load shedding will stick around for just yet.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The day that South Africans have dreaded for nearly a year is finally upon us. Kinda. Eskom (now that’s a name we haven’t for a long time) just issued the first load shedding warning since March 2024. Let’s first get something straight. Load shedding is not back. At least, not yet. Even so, it’s probably worth digging out those old lamps, candles, and power banks. We could be in for a rough weekend folks.
ESP jumping for joy
LOADSHEDDING HIGH RISK ALERT STATEMENT
Eskom issues alert of high risk of loadshedding following over ten months of uninterrupted power supply – Summer Outlook remains unchanged. pic.twitter.com/K4RnsfOuTh
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) January 31, 2025
While Eskom has not yet announced an official return to load shedding, it emphasised that there was a “high risk” of many South Africans being plunged into darkness at a moment’s notice. Should Eskom’s attempts to save us from the pressing darkness fail, residents would do well to familiarise themselves with the Stage 4 load shedding schedule. You’ll find ESP is pretty handy for that (Android/iOS).
“This is a potentially temporary setback. Loadshedding is largely behind us due to the structural improvements in our generation fleet. However, over the past seven days, we have experienced several breakdowns that require extended repair times,” said Eskom Group Chief Executive, Dan Marokane.
“This has necessitated the use of all our emergency reserves, which now need to be replenished. Consequently, we are closely monitoring the status of our current emergency reserves, and loadshedding up to Stage 4 may be implemented over the weekend.”
Eskom followed up its statement with a plea to all South Africans to give their geysers and pool pumps the night off during those hours they aren’t in use. This gives Eskom’s technicians the best possible chance to stave off the impending darkness. And you know what? The initial statement is the definition of cookie-cutter, but we’re willing to give Eskom the benefit of the doubt considering load shedding’s ten-month-long sabbatical.