Visit the Eskom website for latest load shedding schedule or call 086 003 7566
Load shedding plans for Joburg These are the schedules for proposed load shedding - when needed - for the various areas around Johannesburg. When the demand for electricity exceeds the available supply, planned supply interruptions may have to be carried out. This is called load shedding.
It is a controlled way of rotating the available electricity between all Eskom customers.
According to the power utility, affected areas are not interrupted for more than two hours at a time, and in most cases customers can be informed of interruptions in advance. It is also done on a rotational basis.
Shortages on the electricity system unbalance the network, which can cause it to collapse; by rotating the load in a planned and controlled manner, the system remains stable.
Usually the supply is adequate and the peak passes without incident. Occasionally, however, problems arise. A huge turbo-generator in a power station develops a fault and "trips" – shuts down, no longer contributing to the supply.
When this happens, load exceeds supply, and the load has to be reduced to a point where the available capacity can handle it, otherwise the result for the whole system could be serious. So the system controllers "shed some load" – they switch off the supply to various customers for a short while.
However, local municipalities also conduct load shedding, following their own needs and schedule. Customers who receive their electricity directly from Eskom will find information of possible outages on its website. Those who are supplied by their local municipalities have to obtain load shedding information from their municipal electricity departments.
What is Power Alert? Power Alert carries information on the status of national electricity demand, as well as the demand in specific regions. It informs people about the risk of power interruptions in their region and asks residential households to switch certain appliances off to avoid power interruptions.
- A green power alert indicates that the electricity supply is sufficient to cater for the demand.
- An orange power alert indicates that the electricity demand is increasing.
- A red power alert warns of eminent power failures.
- A brown power alert indicates that interruptions are affecting certain regions and that it will spread to other regions.
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