Load shedding is Eskom’s controlled switch-off of electricity to stop demand from outrunning supply. The utility sets its size in stages, and each stage is defined by how many megawatts it may cut from the national load.
What load shedding is
Eskom describes load shedding as a controlled process that responds to unplanned events and protects the grid from a total blackout. A blackout happens when demand is too high and supply too low, which trips the whole system. Eskom says restoring full power after a blackout could take up to two weeks.
Local outages are a different thing. Eskom says these come from faults in the network, cable theft or overloaded local systems, and should not be confused with load shedding.
What comes first
Eskom says it first uses load reduction, which has two parts. Load curtailment is an agreement under which some large industrial customers cut their use, by up to 20% for some of them, though it takes at least two hours to put in place. If demand still exceeds supply after that, or there is no time to ask for curtailment, Eskom starts load shedding.
The eight stages
Eskom has built eight schedules. Stage 1 allows up to 1,000MW of national load to be shed, Stage 2 up to 2,000MW, and so on up to 8,000MW at Stage 8. Each stage adds up to 1,000MW.
Source: Eskom, Interpreting schedules page, read on 3 November 2026. Chart: Rand Desk
The higher the stage, the more often you are switched off. At Stage 1 Eskom says a household can expect up to three outages of two hours over four days. At Stage 2 that is six, at Stage 3 it is nine and at Stage 4 it is 12. In four-hour areas Eskom counts the same number of outages over eight days.
When blocks get longer
Stages 1 to 4 run mostly in two-hour blocks. In Eskom-supplied areas of Johannesburg the blocks are four hours, to match City Power’s schedule. Eskom adds 30 minutes to each block for switching, so a two-hour block can mean up to 2.5 hours without power, and a four-hour block up to 4.5 hours.
From Stage 5, two-hour blocks are replaced step by step with four-hour ones. At Stage 5 Eskom says up to nine outages of two hours and three of four hours over four days. At Stage 6 that becomes six and six, at Stage 7 it is three and nine, and at Stage 8 all 12 outages last four hours.
Beyond the schedule
Eskom says its National Control can order extra, unscheduled cuts when more load must go than the eight schedules cover, so a household may lose power outside its published times. The stage in force is shown on Eskom’s website and on the MyEskom app.
Who Eskom supplies
Eskom supplies more than 6 million households directly, and most people are supplied by municipalities. Municipalities and metros set their own schedules. Eskom says many follow the same principles but it has no control over how they draw them up, so a municipal customer should check the municipality’s schedule.
Where it stands now
Eskom’s load shedding site, when we read it at 08:06 SAST on 3 November 2026, said it was not load shedding, and pointed customers to the schedule for their area. Eskom’s availability and diesel spending this year are in our report on its diesel bill, and its plans for new supply are in the 6GW renewables programme story. Customers can find their own schedule on loadshedding.eskom.co.za or the MyEskom app, which also shows the stage in force.
