Eskom won’t suspend load shedding for peak hour traffic today

Eskom will not suspend Stage 2 load shedding at all tomorrow, especially during peak hour traffic periods, due to higher than expected demand.

In an update issued late on Tuesday, it called on South Africans to reduce their electricity usage, as unplanned outages stood at 11.7 GW.

It suspendeded load shedding on Tuesday morning to accommodate the morning rush hour across the country’s major cities, but was unable to do the same in the afternoon.

#POWERALERT 3
Date: 4 February 2020

Stage 2 rotational loadshedding to continue through the day until Thursday at 06:00, with no respite during peak traffic periods in the morning and afternoon @SABCNewsOnline @IOL @TimesLIVE @ewnupdates @eNCA @News24 @Newzroom405 @TheSAnews pic.twitter.com/th8ZP4cQQ9

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) February 4, 2020

Eskom’s latest update means that the utility won’t suspend load shedding for peak traffic periods at all on Wednesday. You’re just going to have to deal with those dead traffic lights, South Africa.

Load shedding is set to come to an end at 6am Thursday, but it’s likely — especially if offline units do not return to service — that the utility to extend rolling blackouts through the weekend.

Eskom has noted that it would issue updates if this is indeed the case.

When is your city or municipality load shedding?

We’ve compiled a list of some of the country’s largest cities’ and municipalities’ schedules right here. Be sure to bookmark this little resource.

Feature image: Andy Walker/Memeburn