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Cape Town - Eskom announced on Wednesday that it will implement stage 1 load shedding and curtailment from 16:00 today, which is likely to continue until 22:00 this evening.
See how you will be affected: GridWatch
"Any unexpected changes on the vulnerable and constrained power system could lead to a change in the load shedding stage at short notice," Eskom warned.
Week of load shedding
Eskom started the week off with stage 1 load shedding just after 16:00 without warning, only notifying the media and public about half an hour later.
It moved to stage 2 load shedding within an hour, blaming a further shortage of generation capacity on additional units that had to be taken out of service for unplanned maintenance caused by technical faults.
On Tuesday it announced stage 2 load shedding from 16:00 way in advance and ended the power cuts just after 21:00.
Peak evening demand this week is predicted to be far more than the capacity, with Wednesday (less 2 576 MW) and Thursday (less 2 703 MW) showing signs of load shedding up to stage 3a, when 3 000 MW needs to be cut from the grid.
Stage 1 requires 1 000 MW less electricity usage, stage 2 (2 000 MW), stage 3a (3 000 MW) and 3b (4 000 MW).
Eskom said South Africans could assist in lessening the impact of load shedding by lowering their consumption.
"Every little bit of saving counts in minimising the severity of load shedding."
