Eskom: Stage 2 load shedding to continue through to Friday

Overnight load shedding implemented by Eskom on Wednesday evening through to Thursday morning has been extended.

Stage 2 Load shedding will now be in effect all day on Thursday, only coming to an end at 6am on Friday.

@POWERALERT 1
Date: 09 January 2020

Stage 2 loadshedding to continue until 06:00 on Friday@SABCNewsOnline @IOL @ewnupdates @eNCA @TimesLIVE @News24 @SowetanLIVE @Fin24 @TheCitizen_News @TheSAnews pic.twitter.com/IO399J1lu5

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) January 9, 2020

Eskom blames the escalation on a “severely constrained and unpredictable” electricity system, which is now short of more than 14 GW (gigawatts) generational capacity thanks to breakdowns.

It’s been more than a month since unavailable capacity has been below 9500 MW (megawatts), the number Eskom believes is enough to avoid load shedding entirely.

The utility notes that emergency reserves — diesel and its pumped storage schemes — is not enough to negate load shedding on Thursday.

It also stated that it would alert South Africa should power cuts continue beyond 6am Friday.

As for schedules, you can find load shedding periods for your city or municipality across the country here.

Feature image: AP X 90 via Unsplash