After a weekend of reprieve, Eskom will launch South Africa into the new week with Stage 1 loadshedding, with the hopes of containing rotational outages to a maximum of Stage 4.
UPDATE: On Sunday, 7 May 2023, Eskom escalated loadshedding to Stage 7 until further notice, “due to a shortage of generating capacity.”
See the updated loadshedding schedule below:
Here’s the loadshedding schedule for week of Monday, 1 May 2023
In a statement, the national electricity supplier confirmed persistent strain on the power system made it necessary to upscale loadshedding from a low stages this past weekend.
If the loadshedding schedule remains unchanged, then rotational blackouts will likely remain on Stage 1 until 16:00 on Workers Day. Thereafter, outages will increase to Stage 3 for the evening peak period, then drop back to Stage 2 on Tuesday, 2 May 2023 between 05:00 and 16:00.
Loadshedding is expected to increase to Stage 4 on Tuesday evening, and return again on Wednesday between 16:00 and 05:00 the next day.
Much of the reprieve from higher stages of loadshedding is owed to the return to service of “a generation unit each at Matla and Medupi power stations.”
“The delays in returning a unit to service at Arnot, Duvha, Kriel and Lethabo power stations contributed to the current capacity constraints. The team is working around the clock to ensure that generating units are returned to service as soon as possible,” Eskom noted.
Here’s a snapshot of Eskom’s energy availability, as reported at 18:23 on Saturday, 29 April 2023.
- Eskom availability: 24 829MW
- Loadshedding: 3 634MW
- Total demand: 27 392MW
- Number of OCGTs and GTs utilised: 10
- Renewable gen: 1 198MW
- IPP availability (Dispatchable): 1 014MW
- RES: Wind: 938MW
- CSP: 260MW
As of Sunday, 30 April 2023, breakdowns amounted to:
- 17 702MW – up 1 419MW from Wednesday, 26 April 2023
- 3 702MW – down 1 363MW from Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Here is the official loadshedding schedule:
| Date | Morning Peak (05:00 – 16:00) | Evening Peak (16:00 – 05:00) |
| Monday 1 May 2023 | Stage 1 | Stage 3 |
| Tuesday 2 May 2023 | Stage 4* | Stage 6 |
| Wednesday 3 May 2023 | Stage 4 | Stage 6 |
| Thursday 4 May 2023 | Stage 4 | Stage 6* |
| Friday 5 May 2023 | Stage 4 | Stage 5 |
| Saturday 6 May 2023 | Stage 5* | Stage 5* |
| Sunday 7 May 2023 | Stage 5* | Stage 6* |
Readers from these metros can check the latest loadshedding schedule below: