Eskom has announced yet another round of stage 2 load shedding for South Africa – and has warned that the stage could “escalate into the weekend.”
In a series of tweets posted on Twitter on Friday (5 November), the embattled state-owned power utility cited several reasons, including a power fault and tripping generating units.
Stage 2 load shedding returns
“Regretfully, Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented starting at 11:00. A unit at Lethabo and Majuba were delayed in returning to service. A unit at Tutuka tripped,” Eskom tweeted.
“Three Kendal units were taken off and it is anticipated that the fourth and remaining unit will also be shut down. The conveyor belts supplying these units are currently not running due to a power fault. No coal is reaching the station at this point.
“We unfortunately do expect the load shedding stage to escalate into the weekend but this can only be confirmed once we have a better understanding of these problems and when it is likely to be resolved.”
This is the second time Eskom has implemented power cuts this week after implementing them on Tuesday, just a day after the local government elections.
Last month, South Africa experienced the worst bout of load shedding in an October month ever. This is despite promises by Eskom’s management over the past year that the risk of load shedding would be significantly reduced by September 2021.
In a recent briefing, Eskom’s chief operating officer, Jan Oberholzer, warned that the situation could actually get worse – and promised a new target of August 2022 when the risk will supposedly be reduced.
“The Generation division has been characterised by unsatisfactory performance, with output from the power stations below target. This is caused by a faster deterioration in generation units that have not yet enjoyed the reliability maintenance,” the utility said in a media statement in October.
Where to check your load shedding schedule
You can check your load shedding schedule by visiting the Eskom load shedding website. Once you’re here and you’re a direct Eskom customer, you can do a quick search for your suburb, village or area to see your schedule.
If you’re a direct municipal customer (that is, you’re receiving your monthly electricity account from a municipality), you can check your schedule on the Municipal Loadshedding schedules – Distribution (eskom.co.za) website.
Once you’re on that website, select your province, followed by you municipality.