Eskom adds Stage 4 to load shedding schedules

On 17 April, power utility Eskom announced that Stage 4 load shedding had been added to the current load shedding schedule.

According to Khulu Phasiwe, Eskom’s spokesperson, the current proposal is to change Stage 3 load shedding from 4 000MW to 3 000MW.

He explained that “three schedules have been developed based on the possibility of risk and to ensure that it is applied in a fair and equitable manner.”

Stage 1 allows for up to 1 000 MW of the national load to be shed.

Stage 2 allows for up to 2 000 MW of the national load to be shed.

Stage 3 allows for up to 4 000 MW of the national load to be shed. (however, Stage 3 is currently in two segments:

• Stage 3a – up to 3 000MW is shed

• Stage 3b – up to 4 000MW is shed

The current proposal is to change stage 3 to up to 3 000MW

And stage 4 will then be up to 4 000MW.

“Please note that this is still being planned an no implementation date has been confirmed yet.”

Load shedding will be implemented in most instances in 2-hour blocks (with an additional 30 minutes for switching between blocks)

One resident in Wilgeheuwel, Julian Kurger said he had been without electricity for more than the indicated time. He said he had been without power since 2am on 17 April and was still without electricity at the time of publishing.

“It has now been more than 10 hours without electricity in Wilgeheuwel and Honeydew. No doubt we will still be subjected to load shedding when the power comes back on, if it ever does.”

Noel Maso from City Power added, “We have a MV fault in Wilgeheuwel and the team is working on it.”