Eskom announces load-shedding

Eskom says it was forced to implement Stage 2 load-shedding at 18:25 on Wednesday, 19 March 2025, after five generation units broke down before the evening peak demand period.

The power utility says load-shedding will remain in effect until 05:00 on Thursday, 20 March. It has yet to specify which generation units have broken down.

“While we have made notable progress in our generation recovery efforts, Eskom faced the loss of five generation units before the peak period,” Eskom said in a statement.

“Consequently, Stage 2 load-shedding was implemented at 18:25 and will remain in effect until 5:00 tomorrow.”

The power utility says it will continue prioritising planned maintenance to strengthen system reliability ahead of the winter period while adhering to environmental and licencing conditions.

“In light of the ongoing system constraints, we urge the public to use electricity sparingly,” it added.

“Eskom sincerely apologises for the inconvenience caused and will continue to provide updates as required.”

Eskom last implemented load-shedding at Stage 3 between 14:00 on Friday, 7 March, and 10:00 on Sunday, 9 March.

This was also due to the loss of several generation units totalling 2,700MW of capacity. It said the system was already under strain.

Eskom generation head Bheki Nxumalo said the power utility was experiencing a “challenging time” in its two-year generation recovery plan, with its full force of skilled engineers deployed and focused.

“We again apologise to the nation for this temporary setback,” he said.

“We have had some delays in returning units that previously tripped back to the grid, as well as to the return of three units that have been on longer-term outage that will bring back 2,500MW to the grid, which will happen over the coming weeks.”

However, he assured that Eskom is committed to ensuring that South Africa won’t return to the levels of load-shedding experienced in 2023.