• Just after 06:00 on Wednesday morning Eskom announced that Stage 2 loadshedding would be implemented from 07:00 until 16:00.
• The need for day time loadshedding comes following the delay in returning some generating units to service.
• Eskom says it will provided another update on Wednesday afternoon.

Over the last few weeks Eskom has managed to suspend loadshedding from midnight until 16:00 in the afternoon with the exception of the last weekend.

Today however, Stage 2 loadshedding was implemented from 07:00 until 16:00. Once the clock rolls over to 16:00, Stage 3 loadshedding will be in place until midnight.

“Due to the delay in returning to service some generating units , Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented today at 07:00 until 16:00. Thereafter, Stage 3 loadshedding will be implemented from 16:00 until midnight,” Eskom said on Twitter, promising that it would update customers on Wednesday afternoon.

This increased frequency of loadshedding comes shortly after Minister of Electricity patted the utility on the back for averaging to achieve an energy availability factor of 60 percent over the last fortnight.

The utility has also amassed a record number of hours of loadshedding. As tracked by EskomSePush, there had been 3 805 hours of loadshedding by Monday. This has likely increased given that power cuts are still being implemented.

The good news is that as we’re still only at Stage 2 and 3 loadshedding, those in the load limiting pilot in Fourways will still have up to 10 Amps of power to make use of, provided they limit their consumption ahead of loadshedding. While it is only 10 Amps, it’s better than nothing and you could power a TV, a router and a few lights for two hours.

Ultimately however, government needs to make moves to address the energy crisis by adding more capacity to the grid. With those plans still months out, we may have to contend with more day time loadshedding in the near future.

[Image – Willi Heidelbach from Pixabay]