Eskom pushes load shedding to stage 5 – here’s the new schedule

Failing national power utility Eskom has announced that stage 4 and 5 load shedding will be implemented from 05h00 on Thursday (26 January) morning until Sunday afternoon.

According to the company, load shedding has had to be pushed to a higher stage as a result of losing a generation unit each at Camden, Kendal, Lethao and Majuba power stations over the past 24 hours.

Eskom said that returning generating units back to operation at each Matla and Tutuka has been delayed.

“Two generating units at Kriel, a unit each at Majuba and Tutuka power stations have been returned to service,” said Eskom.

The company added that planned maintenance sits at 6,462MW while the current amount of generating capacity is 15,977MW.

Eskom has been in crisis since before the start of this year, with load shedding taking a drastic toll on the everyday lives and businesses of South Africans.

On January 23,  after an announcement by the company that stage 2 and 3 load shedding would be put in place, Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha denied reports that the company plans to implement permanent stage 2 and 3 load shedding for the next two years.

He said that while the measure was considered, it was ultimately rejected as it would not guarantee that load shedding would remain at lower levels.

Eskom provided the following timetable for the rest of the week:

Schedules 

For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:

• City of Johannesburg
• City of Ekurhuleni 
• City of Tshwane 
• City of Cape Town (PDF)
• Nelson Mandela Bay
• eThekwini
• Manguang
• Buffalo City

Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.