South Africans can breathe a sigh of relief as power utility Eskom announced the suspension of load shedding from 5am until 4pm this weekend.
Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena said this was due to the sustained improved performance of generation availability as well as the anticipated lower demand over the weekend.
“Load shedding will be suspended between 5am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm until 5am on both Saturday and Sunday. Today [Friday], as previously communicated, Stage 3 load shedding will continue to be implemented from 4pm until 5am on Saturday,” Mokwena said.
She said the power utility will be closely monitoring the power system and communicate any change to load shedding should it be required.
Breakdowns are currently at 14,266MW of generating capacity while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5,388MW.
“Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at Arnot, Duvha, Ingula, and Vanderkloof power stations was taken offline for repairs. In the same period, a generating unit at Hendrina Power Station was returned to service. Eskom teams are working tirelessly to ensure that additional generating units are returned to service as soon as possible,” Mokwena said.
She said the load forecast for the evening peak demand is 27,606MW.
“We appeal to the members of the public to continue reducing demand by switching off non-essential appliances. We would like to thank those who do heed the call to use electricity sparingly and efficiently, including switching off geysers and pool pumps from 5pm to 9pm, as this lowers demand and helps in alleviating the pressure on the power system, and contributes to lower stages of load shedding,” Mokwena said.