Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has said that its customers will be on Stage 1 load shedding until 10pm tonight after Eskom announced that the rest of the country will be on Stage 2.
Load shedding, which will be implemented from 4pm today, will last until 5am tomorrow.
“This load shedding has been caused by the higher demand as a result of the cold front settling in much earlier than expected, as well as high breakdowns of generation units,” Eskom said.
They added that generation supply constraints would persist throughout the high winter demand period, which increased the likelihood of load shedding.
“Breakdowns currently total 14 560MW of capacity, while another 2 300MW is unavailable due to planned maintenance,” Eskom said.
The City, meanwhile, said that its customers will be shielded from one stage of load shedding.
Load-shedding Update.
— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) May 31, 2021
City protects customers tonight. City customers will be on Stage 1 from 16:00 until 22:00 tonight, 31 May.
Eskom customers will be on Stage 2. Further updates will follow. #CTInfo pic.twitter.com/Uw0ZzxGHGx
Mayor Dan Plato has previously reiterated that the City has been working towards providing more affordable, reliable and cleaner energy to residents in Cape Town and in South Africa with its push to procure power directly from Independent Power Producers.
“Load shedding has been negatively impacting the ability of the economy to grow and limits much-needed job creation. The Covid-19 pandemic has further hit a struggling national economy; I therefore urge the National Minister to provide us with the clarity we need to proceed with the procurement from IPPs.”
City of Cape Town customers can see if they are being affected by power cuts here: