Slightly Lighter Loadshedding This Week in South Africa: Stages 4 and 5

Over the course of this week 14 generators are expected to return to service, helping to ease the pressure on the power system. Stage 4 loadshedding is being implemented from 05:00 daily until 16:00, with Stage 5 loadshedding daily from 16:00 – 05:00, a slight reprieve after last week’s Stage 6. But still devastating for small businesses and the South African economy.

Eskom cautions the public, however, that there is a high degree of uncertainty associated with this and that these changes will only be possible in their entirety if the units return to service as planned. Changes in the stages of loadshedding can therefore occur at short notice, due to the inherent unreliability of the coal power station fleet.

Eskom procured an additional 50 million litres of diesel on 06 January 2023. This fuel will be utilised sparingly to manage the pumped storage dam levels and to limit the amount of loadshedding during the day. Together, these emergency generators contribute 5 700MW of capacity.

A generating unit each at Kendal, Majuba and Tutuka power stations have returned to service today.

The summer planned maintenance programme continues, and will taper off during the winter months, helping to make more capacity available to produce electricity. There are currently 12 generators out on planned maintenance, representing 5 804MW of capacity.

Breakdowns currently amount to 16 173MW of generating capacity.