After a relatively quiet festive season on the loadshedding front, Eskom has yet again been announcing planned power cuts because of lack of capacity. Residents are becoming more and more anxious and angry at the constant lack of power, whether it be from load-shedding or infrastructure problems.
In a statement, Eskom said that load-shedding has been implemented now for the same reasons as last month – the systems are severely constrained. Additional capacity allegedly has also been lost and the emergency reserves aren’t enough to meet the electricity demand during the day.
Insufficient emergency reserves require that they load-shed to replenish their stock. The gas turbines require large amounts of diesel to operate, and both the hydroelectric plants and the gas turbines can only be used for short periods before diesel and water reserves run out.
Eskom said that customers would be kept updated on the state of the power supply and a prognosis for the days to come. Residents will also be kept up to date on the entity’s recovery efforts going into the weekend and next week.
We hear these statements often, and while they say they are working on repairs, no estimated time of repair (ETR) has been given. While everything is being sorted out on Eskom’s side, the Record is hoping to help residents prepare for this week’s load-shedding, should the problems persist throughout the weekend and next week.
The schedule below will be relevant if load-shedding stays between Stages 1 and 4. If loadshedding moves to between Stages 5 to 8, a different schedule applies. Should this happen, readers will be updated and a new schedule will be posted.
The schedule for 9 to 17 January shows the effective times, as well as which load blocks will be affected on which days.
Here are a few things to keep in mind with regard to the load-shedding schedules:
• Eskom informs customers of the effective loadshedding times in advance; if loadshedding is announced in the middle of your area’s scheduled time, you will still have no power for the remainder of the time slot. For example: if your area is scheduled for load-shedding from 4pm to 8.30pm, but Eskom only announces loadshedding from 6pm, you will still be without power from 6pm to 8.30pm
• If a higher stage of load-shedding is declared while a lower stage is being implemented, the time slot won’t change until the slot is complete. For example, a time slot from 4pm to 8.30pm in Stage 2 will be completed even if Stage 4 (with a different time for the area) is announced during that time.
• The load blocks on the schedule are cumulative, so higher stages include the blocks mentioned in the lower stages. So Stage 1 includes only one mentioned block; Stage 3 includes the blocks mentioned in Stage 1, 2, and 3; and Stage 4 includes all blocks mentioned in that time slot.
• Give Eskom an extra 30 minutes to restore power after the slot has ended. If all the areas are turned on at once, the substation may overload and power will trip.
• The power could be restored at any time, so residents are urged to treat their electricity supply points as live at all times
To find out what load block your area falls under, download the EskomSePush (ESP) app and enter your suburb, or visit the City Power website: https://www.citypower.co.za.
