Eskom load shedding
Eskom scraps planned load shedding
Stage two power cuts were rolled out for much of Saturday, and stage one outages were scheduled for Sunday.
Stage 2 load shedding was implemented and was expected to last until 11pm on Saturday, and continue on Sunday.
The power utility said it implemented so called "load reduction" to prevent network overloading in parts of Gauteng.
Ethekwini acting city manager Sipho Cele said 70% of the fuel for the country comes from the two refineries in the south Durban basin and preferential load shedding will ensure that systems such as these are not interrupted.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said while the utility could maintain the current capacity to supply electricity, it may have to turn your power off should there be any significant breakdowns to its infrastructure.
The utility has managed to stave-off rolling blackouts after it warned of possible stage 2 load shedding at short notice due to a faulty conveyor belt at its Medupi power station which failed last night.
The utility has managed to stave off rolling blackout for two days now but said any deterioration in generation performance could lead to the implementation of load shedding at short notice.
In a tweet this afternoon, the power utility said the ‘generation supply situation has significantly improved’.
Earlier Eskom implemented stage 1 load shedding from 4 pm on Tuesday, and it was expected to last until 10 pm – this after the utility managed to return more generation units back to service.
Eskom managed to suspend load shedding until Tuesday afternoon after returning more generation units back to service.
The power utility is citing reduced demand and improved weather conditions for scaling down the rolling blackouts.
The utility says this is due to ‘exceptionally high demand’.
In a statement, the power utility said load shedding will continue from 8 am to 10 pm on Wednesday.
Eskom said its suspended power cuts for Friday and said it hoped to avoid blackouts over the next 48 hours.
Despite successfully returning three generation units to service, Eskom said this was not enough to prevent the third day of outages.
The utility says its battling with several breakdowns of generation units at its plants, which have taken 2,000 megawatts off the grid.
The power utility said it will suspend load shedding from noon on Sunday due to an improved generation system and low demand.
Eskom says due to a drop in electricity demand going into the weekend and the restoration of its Koeberg unit in cape town the scale of power cuts has minimized.
Eskom says due to the improvement of generating power on Saturday, it is able to provide relief to customers who have been experiencing power cuts for weeks.