Loadshedding Schedule Released – Again

Loadshedding Schedule Released — Immediately Changed Three Times Before Breakfast

Eskom released its updated loadshedding schedule for the Helderberg area at 6h14 on Wednesday morning, which was considerate in the sense that it gave residents approximately nineteen minutes to study it before it was revised at 6h33, revised again at 7h02 and then replaced entirely by a new document at 7h48 that superseded the previous three versions and which contained a footnote advising that the schedule was “subject to change.”

The original schedule, which residents had screenshot, shared to four WhatsApp groups, printed in one case and in another case used to plan a week’s worth of cooking, charging and working-from-home arrangements, was rendered obsolete before most people had finished their first coffee. This would have been more distressing were the coffee not already made, which it was, because everyone in the Helderberg has long since learned to treat the morning as a window of opportunity rather than a period of leisure.

“I had the whole week mapped out,” said one Somerset West resident who had colour-coded the schedule in a shared household calendar. “Stage two until ten, then a gap, then stage three from two. I had adjusted my client calls, planned when to run the washing machine and told my husband when he could and could not use the kettle. Then it changed and then it changed again and by the third version I had just accepted that I was living improvisationally.”

The second revision moved the Stage 2 block ninety minutes earlier, which affected school runs, a medical appointment and a man in Strand who had timed his shower to the original schedule with what he described as “military precision.” The third revision introduced a Stage 3 period that had not appeared in either previous version and which covered the exact window that a Gordon’s Bay resident had specifically checked all three times to confirm was clear.

By 8am the four WhatsApp groups to which the original schedule had been distributed each contained no fewer than three different versions of the document, at least one message saying “ignore the last one, use this one” and one member in each group who had not yet seen any of them asking what was going on. Clarification was attempted. It did not clarify.

Eskom’s communication noted that the schedule was accurate as of the time of issue and that conditions could require adjustments. Residents confirm that this is consistent with their experience and that they have now adopted a strategy of watching the streetlights rather than consulting any document, which is slower but has a comparable accuracy rate and requires no screenshots.

The schedule as it stands at press time covers the next four days. Three of those days have already changed once since this article began. Residents have been advised to check the app. The app shows a different schedule to the website. Both wish you well.