South Africa today announced that it has
entered stage 4 load shedding. It has not been obvious what this means exactly. Here is a breakdown of the stages:
Stage 1
- allowing up to 1000 MW of the national load to be shed.
- Electricity is disconnected 3 times over a four day period for two hours at a time, or
- 3 times over an eight day period for four hours at a time.
Stage 2
- allows for up to 2000 MW of the national load to be shed.
- electricity disconnected 6 times over a four day period for two hours at a time, or
- 6 times over an eight day period for four hours at a time
Stage 3
- allows for up to 3000 MW of the national load to be shed.
- No electricity 9 times over a four day period for two hours at a time, or
- 9 times over an eight day period for four hours at a time.
Stage 4
- allows for up to 4000 MW of the national load to be shed.
- No electricity for 12 times over a four day period for two hours at a time, or
- 12 times over an eight day period for four hours at a time.
Other stages
In March 2019, it was reported that officials at Eskom had said that the power utility company had
started planning for Stage 5 and Stage 6 load shedding.
It is important to know that South Africa implements the above load shedding on a rotational basis. Eskom itself has schedules up to Stage 8 but has never implemented these to date. Officials at the company have said that South Africa is not anywhere near having total power blackouts due to load shedding.
More: Pindula.com 
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