UPDATE: Stages 1 and 2 load shedding rotation until Wednesday

After Eskom announced a load shedding reduction from Stage 2 on Sunday to Stage 1, it said this pattern would continue on Monday, and in all likelihood, last until Wednesday.

This comes after the power utility announced that it would implement Stage 2 load shedding throughout the weekend, and after a week that saw load shedding reach Stage 4.

Stage 1 load shedding will continue on Sunday until 10pm evening, as of 4pm (a reduction from Stage 2).

On Monday Stage 1 will kick in at 8am and last until 4pm, whereafter the load shedding will escalate again to Stage 2 until 10pm.

“This pattern will repeat on Tuesday, with a high likelihood for Wednesday as well,” the power utility said in a statement.

“Eskom will continue to communicate timeously should there be any changes as the system remains unreliable and vulnerable.”

Several generation units went offline over the past week and Eskom said the continued load shedding was necessary over the weekend to “replenish emergency generation reserves”.

Eskom added that it expected some of these units to come back online in the coming days which will help ease the constraints placed on the beleaguered electricity generation system.

“Unplanned breakdowns amount to 9,2727MW of capacity, adding to the 6,314MW currently out on planned maintenance. Eskom teams are working around the clock to return as many of these generation units to service as possible,” it said.

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