Eskom adjusts load shedding hours for daytime relief

Eskom has announced that load shedding will be suspended daily between 10am and 4pm due to sustained generation performance and lower demand for electricity during the day.

According to the power utility, Stage 2 rolling blackouts will continue to be implemented until 5am on Thursday.

Thereafter, the load shedding schedule will be as follows:

• Stage 1 loadshedding will be implemented from 5am until 10am, after which it will be suspended until 4pm.
• Stage 2 loadshedding will then be implemented from 4pm until 5am on Friday.
• Following this, Stage 1 loadshedding will be implemented from 5am until 10am, when it will be suspended until 4pm.
• Stage 1 loadshedding will resume from 4pm on Friday until 5am on Saturday.

Eskom promised to keep a careful eye on the electricity grid and to let everyone know about any necessary adjustments.

“Unplanned outages reduced to 13 250 MW of generating capacity, while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 7 921 MW,” the power utility said.

ALSO READ: Eskom must balance intensity of load shedding with diesel budget – Ramokgopa

It added that to guarantee that the 1 340 MW of producing capacity is put back into service by Friday, the general managers of the power plants and their crews will keep up their hard work.

Balance intensity of load shedding with diesel budget

On Tuesday, during a media briefing on the progress made regarding the energy action plan (EAP) and providing a weekly generation outlook, the Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, emphasised the need for Eskom to strike a balance between mitigating the severity of load shedding and adhering to the constraints of the diesel budget.

He said the capacity available was greater than peak demand in the evening.

Ramokgopa said there were two major points to draw from between 8 and 22 January on Eskom’s performance in generating electricity.

“[If ones asks] if you are making the claim that capacity available is greater than peak demand, then why we are having load shedding is because 3 000 [megawatts] of capacity available has to be drawn from the open-cycle gas turbines [OCGTs], which are burning diesel, so we have reduced our consumption of diesel,” he said.

ALSO READ: Eskom ramps up load shedding to stage 2 until further notice after suspension

Additional reporting by Molefe Seeletsa