The Cape Town loadshedding schedule for Wednesday, 20 March 2024, suggests residents will be protected from outages.
Cape Town loadshedding schedule for Wednesday, 20 March 2024
On Sunday, Eskom confirmed the new week would kick off with a lower pattern of outages than the past week.
In a statement, the power utility confirmed loadshedding would resume at a fixed Stage 2 from 05:00 on Monday “until further notice.”
Barring any unexpected changes necessitated by unplanned breakdowns at Megawatt Park’s ailing generation fleet, City of Cape Town clients should enjoy reduced loadshedding on Wednesday.
Here’s a look at the Cape Town loadshedding schedule for Wednesday, 20 March 2024:
| Time | Cape Town | Eskom |
| 00:00 – 05:00 | Stage 2* | Stage 2* |
| 05:00 – 16:00 | Stage 1* | Stage 2* |
| 16:00 – 20:00 | Suspended* | Stage 2* |
| 20:00 – 22:00 | Suspended* | Stage 2* |
| 22:00 – 00:00 | Stage 2* | Stage 2* |
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.
