BREAKING: Stage 2 load shedding returns on Tuesday evening

Here we go again… again. Another round of load shedding has been announced by Eskom, who has confirmed that Stage 2 outages will be in place from Tuesday evening, right through until Wednesday morning.

When is load shedding starting on Tuesday 13 April?

The lights are set to go out at 21:00 this evening. Following an eight-hour spell of rolling blackouts, power is set to be restored to normal at 5:00 tomorrow. And yes, the firm already has its excuses ready and waiting.

According to Eskom, a set of generational units have tripped this afternoon. Tutuka, Kendal, and Komati are the offending power plants, and all three have been taken off the grid for at least the next few hours.

Load shedding schedule – eight-hour outages for South Africa

Meanwhile, the problem has been exacerbated by a delay in returning three separate units to operation. With Kriel, Medupi, and Dhuva running at a limited capacity, Eskom has been unable to weather this perfect storm.

The load shedding notice was published just 24 minutes after the ailing SOE revealed that the grid was under ‘severe pressure’, advising citizens to turn off non-essential appliances. Less than half an hour later, we got the works…

#PowerAlert
13 April 2021
17:00

Our power system is under severe pressure. Please switch off all unnecessary lights, your geyser, pool pump and non-essential appliances. pic.twitter.com/XbalfsVcXC

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) April 13, 2021

You can read the full statement from Eskom below:

“Eskom regrets to inform the public that due to a shortage in generational capacity, Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 21:00 tonight until 5:00 on Wednesday morning. The return to service of three generation units has been delayed, whereas another three have tripped. We are working hard to return these to service as soon as we can.”

#POWERALERT1

Eskom to implement Stage 2 loadshedding from 21:00 tonight until 05:00 tomorrow due to
shortage of generation capacity pic.twitter.com/PEWsakBS5u

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) April 13, 2021