Eskom suspends daytime load shedding from Monday

Due to improved generating capacity and sufficient emergency reserves for the week ahead, Eskom announced that daytime load shedding will be suspended from Monday morning.

The embattled power utility’s announcement followed Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa weekly update on Sunday that six units from various power stations are set to return to service on Wednesday and Thursday.

Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented on Sunday from 4pm to 5am on Monday as previously scheduled.

Thereafter, load shedding will be suspended until 4pm, the utility indicated.

Stage 2 load shedding will then be implemented for the evening peak, lasting until 5am the next day.

The pattern will be in place until further notice, Eskom said.

ALSO READ: Spotlight on bankrupt Eskom’s multimillion ‘vanity project’

Load shedding schedule

Sunday, 5 November

• Stage 2: 4pm to 12am

Monday, 6 November

• Stage 2: 12am to 5am
• Suspended: 5am to 4pm
• Stage 2: 4pm to 12am

Tuesday, 7 November

• Stage 2: 12am to 5am
• Suspended: 5am to 4pm
• Stage 2: 4pm to 12am

ALSO READ: Eskom still not producing enough power to meet typical demand – energy analyst

Eskom’s load shedding ‘trick’

Independent energy analyst Pieter Jordaan told BusinessTech that much of Eskom’s recent successes in keeping load shedding at bay have been thanks to lower demand, as well as the utility ramping up the burning of diesel significantly.

After a blissful nine days of no load shedding during the Rugby World Cup championship in France recently, Eskom, however, has been forced to once again turn to power cuts after its “diesel burning trick” proved to be unsustainable in the long term.

Eskom’s multimillion ‘rebranding exercise’ sparks outcry

Earlier this week, the news of Eskom issuing a multimillion-rand tender for the design of a new company logo, as well as the creation of a new corporate identity, sparked an outcry from the Democratic Alliance (DA).

“This is a completely unnecessary vanity project that contributes nothing towards solving South Africa’s load shedding crisis,” the opposition party’s public enterprises spokesperson, Ghaleb Cachalia, said.

“Eskom has been bankrupt for a while now and has been kept afloat by taxpayer-funded bailouts, the most recent of which was the R254 billion Eskom debt takeover by the government, which will worsen the country’s already precarious debt burden,” Cachalia said.

“It is therefore simply astounding that it sees a logo change as a priority when they are literally surviving on taxpayer money.”

 Get your metro schedule here

• City of Johannesburg
• City of Ekurhuleni 
• City of Tshwane 
• City of Cape Town (PDF)
• Nelson Mandela Bay
• eThekwini
• Manguang
• Buffalo City

To access other schedules, visit loadshedding.eskom.co.za.

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