• Eskom announced loadshedding over 30 minutes after other sources revealed the increase in blackouts.
• Stage 6 power cuts will be in place until 05:00 on Thursday.
• Power cuts will shift to Stage 5 and then back to Stage 6 after 16:00 until further notice.

Should there be any psychology students looking for a project, we suspect that observing a South African’s reaction to an EskomSePush (ESP) notification outside of the 55 minute schedule could make for an interesting study.

One such notification went out this afternoon when the application reported that loadshedding would be increased to Stage 6 following persistent Stage 5 loadshedding since 05:00 on Wednesday. Stage 6 will reportedly begin at 16:00 on Wednesday afternoon.

The City of Cape Town has also said that Eskom will increase the severity of loadshedding to Stage 6 from 16:00.

Over 30 minutes later, Eskom published an update.

“Due to a shortage of generation capacity, Stage 6 loadshedding will be implemented from 16:00 this afternoon until 05:00 on Thursday. Thereafter, Stage 5 loadshedding will be implemented until 16:00 on Thursday. This pattern will be repeated daily until further notice,” Eskom wrote.

The utility reports that 16 722MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns while 5 807MW is unavailable due to planned maintenance. Eskom adds that the reopening of schools and an, “increase in demand after the long weekend” have put strain on the power generation system. Unfortunately the utility doesn’t acknowledge its inability to provide supply for that demand and chose to shift blame to South Africans instead.

Frankly, the snails pace with which Eskom shares news is starting to become alarming. On Wednesday morning the utility took over two hours to mention that Stage 5 had remained in place rather than dropping to Stage 3 as previously communicated. This communication comes long after municipalities and private firms have made the announcement sowing confusion as Eskom is silent.

Beyond this, data regarding overall demand and the generation capacity is shared as and when Eskom pleases. Worse still, were it not for ESP, South Africans would have to rely on their ability to read Excel spreadsheets in order to interpret when power cuts are happening.

Given we’re just entering the colder months, we recommend strapping in for a cold, dark winter.

[Image – Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash]