Eskom announces stage 6 load-shedding — here is the timetable

Eskom has declared that stage 6 load shedding would be implemented from 21:00 on Tuesday, 31 January 2023 to 05:00 on Wednesday, 1 February 2023.

According to the electricity provider, stage 5 load shedding will begin at 05:00 on Wednesday and will continue until further notice.

However, Eskom said in a chart accompanying the announcement that it aims to decrease its rotating power cuts to stage 4 beginning Friday morning.

“Stage 5 load-shedding will be implemented from 12:00 this afternoon until 21:00 tonight. Thereafter, stage 6 load-shedding will be implemented until 05:00 tomorrow morning,” Eskom said in a statement.

“Stage 5 load-shedding will then be implemented continuously from 05:00 on Wednesday until further notice.”

Eskom blamed the need to increase load-shedding on the failure of six power units in the previous 24 hours.

Delays have also occurred in the restoration of seven units from various power plants to the grid.

“In the last 24 hours, six generating units have suffered breakdowns, of which a unit each at Duvha and Hendrina have not yet returned to service,” the state-owned power utility said.

“In addition, a generating unit each at Matla and Arnot had been returned to service. There is a delay in returning a generating unit each at Duvha, Kendal, Grootvlei, and Kriel power stations.”

The power company is now down for scheduled maintenance on 4,654MW of generation capacity, with an additional 18,123MW unavailable due to breakdowns.

Eskom stated that if any substantial changes occur, it would issue another statement and urged South Africans to use power carefully.

The table below contains a load-shedding schedule for the coming week.