Loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 3 from 21:00 on Thursday until 05:00 on Friday; thereafter Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented as previously communicated until 05:00 on Saturday

Thursday, 28 October 2021: Having returned some generation capacity to service over the past 24 hours, Eskom is pleased to announce that loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 3 from 21:00 this evening until 05:00 on Friday. Thereafter Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented until 05:00 on Saturday as previously communicated.

Over the past 24 hours a unit each at the Koeberg, Medupi, Kriel, Duvha, Kusile and Tutuka power stations returned to service, helping to ease the current capacity constraints. Unfortunately, during this time, a unit each at Majuba and Arnot power stations tripped while a single unit at Matla was forced to shut down.

While this allowed space to reduce the utilisation of emergency generation reserves, it is however, still insufficient to end the current loadshedding. The next two days will be used to further improve the emergency reserves in preparation for the week ahead.

Total breakdowns currently amount to 14 161MW while planned maintenance is 5 449MW of capacity.

We remind customers and the public that loadshedding is implemented as a last resort to maintain the stability of the power system regardless of the stage of loadshedding as the power system remains to be effectively controlled.

Eskom would like to assure the public that there is very low probability of a system collapse, and therefore, no cause for alarm.

We would like again to apologise for the inconvenience caused to the people of South Africa, particularly the education fraternity who is negatively affected by the loadshedding while sitting for the matriculation exams.

Eskom requests the public to continue reducing the usage of electricity, and will communicate promptly should there be any significant changes to the power system.

ENDS