eThekwini Municipality has announced that the city is finalising the amended load shedding schedule to be effective from 25 May 2023.

In a statement issued by the municipality, the city confirmed that following discussions with Eskom, the city's loadshedding schedule is being revised and a new schedule will be effective from Thursday.

eThekwini has been on a reduced level of load shedding since the April 2022 floods due to the negative impact of the floods on the city's electrical network.

"While the city's infrastructure is not yet repaired to pre-flood levels, the city acknowledges the country's need to reduce the load to protect the national grid. It has therefore become unavoidable for eThekwini to revert to normal load shedding stages as experienced by the rest of the country," the municipality said.

The municipality noted that some areas continue to battle with the damage from the floods, and as a result, some substations cannot be switched off as that would pose a significant risk to residents and infrastructure.

The city said it is finalising the amended load shedding schedule which will be shared with the public, as soon as it is ready.

"Suburban block allocations have been amended to accommodate required changes. Customers are urged to check their suburbs against their new block numbers when the schedule is published.

"Areas with a large industrial component have been allocated to Blocks 17 to 20 and will be shut off from Stage 7 upwards for a duration of four hours at a time. This is expected to limit the impact of loadshedding on production," the municipality said.

Customers have been urged to minimise their electricity usage and also switch off high load appliances during power outages to prevent power surges when the power is restored.

"This will prevent extended outages."