Eskom announced that in the week of Monday, 5 December 2022, the loadshedding schedule should be de-escalated from Stage 4 to Stage 2, barring no further breakdowns at vulnerable power plants.
UPDATE: On Saturday, 10 December 2022, Eskom released a statement confirming loadshedding will be increased to Stage 5 until further notice. See the updated loadshedding schedule below.
Loadshedding schedule for the week of Monday, 5 December 2022
In a statement, the national electricity supplier confirmed that escalated blackouts from this past weekend were caused by a mixture of increased unplanned breakdowns and the scarcity of emergency generation reserves.
By Sunday, 4 December 2022, a generating unit each at Grootvlei and Matimba power stations had to be taken offline for repairs. Moreover, Eskom’s efforts to keep this week’s loadshedding schedule at Stage 2 were delayed by prolonged issues with generating units at Arnot and Duvha.
The state-owned power utility further explained that while a generating unit each at Kriel and Matla was returned to service, Eskom anticipates heightened blackouts in the next six to 12 months.
“The imminent refuelling and maintenance outage, as well as the long-term operation project of Unit 1 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, together with the October chimney failure that has forced three generation units offline at Kusile power station, will further reduce available generation capacity and significantly increase the occurence of loadshedding during the next six-12 months,” Eskom warned.
At the start of the week of Monday, 5 December 2022, Eskom had:
- 6 392MW of power out on planned maintenance; and
- another 16 318MW of capacity unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns
Here is the official loadshedding schedule for the week of Monday, 5 December 2022:
PLEASE NOTE: While we endeavour to provide accurate information on the loadshedding schedule, provided by Eskom, in a timeous fashion, it is still the reader’s responsibility to check their local outage timetable. Swisher Post, its parent company, partners and affiliates shall accept no responsibility for any losses or inconveniences incurred from the information provided below.
Monday, 5 December 2022
- 05:00 until the next day- Stage 3 loadshedding
Tuesday, 6 December 2022
- 05:00 – 16:00: Stage 2 loadshedding
- 16:00 until 05:00 the next day: Stage 3 loadshedding
Wednesday, 7 December 2022
- 05:00: Stage 6 loadshedding
Thursday, 8 December 2022
- 05:00 until Friday morning: Stage 6 loadshedding
Friday, 9 December 2022
- 05:00 until the next day – Stage 5 loadshedding
Readers from these metros can check the latest loadshedding schedule below:
- City of Johannesburg
- City of Ekurhuleni
- City of Tshwane
- City of Cape Town
- Nelson Mandela Bay
- eThekwini
- Manguang
- Buffalo City
Saturday, 10 December 2022
- 14:00 – Stage 5 loadshedding
Sunday, 11 December 2022
- 05:00 – Stage 5 loadshedding