On Friday, the Cape Town loadshedding schedule will resume with reduced outages for City clients.
Cape Town loadshedding schedule for Friday, 29 December 2023
On Friday, 22 December 2023, Eskom extended the suspension of outages for a second week, citing “consistent improvement in available generating capacity, lower demand, as well as sufficient emergency reserves.”
While the power utility had not updated the schedule for the weekend when this article was published, rumours indicate loadshedding could remain suspended for the foreseeable future.
However, it’s important to note that Eskom is expected to issue a directive on the state of the power system on Friday.
Here’s a look at the Cape Town loadshedding schedule for Friday, 29 December 2023:
Time | Cape Town | Eskom |
00:00 – 05:00 | Suspended* | Suspended* |
05:00 – 16:00 | Suspended* | Suspended* |
16:00 – 22:00 | Suspended* | Suspended* |
22:00 – 05:00 | Suspended* | Suspended* |
How to check your loadshedding schedule
In Cape Town, loadshedding is implemented rotationally in zones split between 23 areas.
Areas 1 – 16 follow the City of Cape Town’s loadshedding schedule, while Areas 17 – 23 adhere to Eskom’s national outage timetable.
To check the latest outage status, refer to the schedule for the loadshedding stage announced; dates indicated along the top (left to right), with the corresponding affected areas for that day and time slots (from top to bottom).
Here’s how City of Cape Town lowers loadshedding stages
The City of Cape Town has its Steenbras Pumped Storage Plant to thank for the delayed implementation of increased power cuts. The hydro-electric pumped power station is the first of its kind in Africa and in 2019, it was refurbished to provide auxiliary support when needed most.
Currently, the City of Cape Town is the only metro able to provide a semblance of relief to households impacted by loadshedding. Using the hydroelectric pumped power plant, residents connected to the City’s grid experience a lower stage of loadshedding, where possible.
Here’s how the Steenbras Pumped Storage plant works:
- Electricity generated during off-peak periods pumps water to an upper storage reservoir
- The down-flowing water is then used to power a generator
- Small hydro-generators like the one at Steenbras Dam mean that the City can sometimes avoid loadshedding or stay at a lower stage.