Due to an unplanned breakdown on Monday evening, Cape Town’s loadshedding schedule will switch between Stages 3 and 5 on Tuesday, 23 May 2023.
Cape Town loadshedding schedule for Tuesday, 23 May 2023
On Monday evening, Eskom confirmed loadshedding would be escalated to Stage 4 from 05:00 until 16:00 “due to the breakdown of a generating unit each at Arnot, Majuba and Medupi power stations.” The escalation, Eskom explained, will only apply to Tuesday’s daytime loadshedding schedule.
“Eskom is working on returning these generating units to service. Further updates will be communicated as soon as any changes occur,” the power utility wrote.
For Eskom clients, Stage 4 loadshedding will be in effect from 05:00 until 16:00. Thereafter, outages will escalate to Stage 5 until 05:00 the next day. If nothing changes, Eskom expects to return to a pattern of Stages 3 and 5.
City of Cape Town clients, on the other hand, will only experience Stage 5 loadshedding at 20:00, on Tuesday, 23 May 2023, four hours later than the rest of the country.
The City confirmed Stage 3 loadshedding will be in effect between 05:00 and 20:00. Thereafter, loadshedding will be hiked to Stage 5 until 05:00 the next day.
“We are doing all we can to protect you where possible, but non-stop load-shedding at high stages impacts our ability to protect,” the City wrote.
Here’s a look at the Cape Town loadshedding schedule for Tuesday, 23 May 2023:
| Time | Cape Town | Eskom |
| 05:00 – 16:00 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 |
| 16:00 – 20:00 | Stage 3* | Stage 5* |
| 20:00 – 05:00 | Stage 5* | Stage 5* |
How to check your loadshedding schedule
In Cape Town, loadshedding is implemented rotationally in zones split between 23 areas.
Areas 1 – 16 follow the City of Cape Town’s loadshedding schedule, while Areas 17 – 23 adhere to Eskom’s national outage timetable.
To check the latest outage status, refer to the schedule for the loadshedding stage announced; dates indicated along the top (left to right), with the corresponding affected areas for that day and time slots (from top to bottom).
Here’s how City of Cape Town lowers loadshedding stages
The City of Cape Town has its Steenbras Pumped Storage Plant to thank for the delayed implementation of increased power cuts. The hydro-electric pumped power station is the first of its kind in Africa and in 2019, it was refurbished to provide auxiliary support when needed most.
Currently, the City of Cape Town is the only metro able to provide a semblance of relief to households impacted by loadshedding. Using the hydroelectric pumped power plant, residents connected to the City’s grid experience a lower stage of loadshedding, where possible.
Here’s how the Steenbras Pumped Storage plant works:
- Electricity generated during off-peak periods pumps water to an upper storage reservoir
- The down-flowing water is then used to power a generator
- Small hydro-generators like the one at Steenbras Dam mean that the City can sometimes avoid loadshedding or stay at a lower stage.
