Load-shedding upped to stage 3 this afternoon

Eskom says five generating units were taken offline for repairs over the past 24 hours, and the return to service of two generating units was delayed due to preventative maintenance.

These factors have contributed to a shortage of available capacity, necessitating the implementation of stage 3 load-shedding from 16:00 today until 05:00 tomorrow.

Thereafter, the schedule will be as follows:

• Tomorrow: Stage 2 from 05:00 to 16:00
• Tomorrow: Stage 3 from 16:00 to 05:00 on Wednesday

This pattern of stage 2 load-shedding from 05:00 until 16:00 and stage 3 load-shedding from 16:00 until 05:00 will be repeated until further notice.

Eskom will communicate any changes.

Unplanned outages are at 16 473MW of generating capacity, while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is at 7 521MW.

The power utility says it will continue to work diligently to return the 1 600MW of generating capacity to service by Wednesday as planned.

Eskom’s load forecast for the evening peak demand tonight is 26 411MW.