File Picture: Karen Sandison
Eskom has announced a day time load shedding reprieve this weekend, after South Africans woke up to Stage 6 blackouts last Saturday morning.
Eskom said load shedding would be suspended on Saturday and Sunday, between 5am and 4pm.
However, the power utility said it would continue with Stage 2 load shedding from Friday until Saturday, between 4pm and 12am.
On Sunday, in the 4pm to 12am slot, load shedding would be implemented at the lowest Stage 1 level until further notice.
Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, said this was due to the recovery of additional generation capacity and adequate emergency reserves, as well as anticipated lower weekend electricity demand.
“Eskom power station general managers and their teams continue to work diligently to ensure that additional generating capacity is recovered by bringing units on unplanned outages and planned maintenance back to service,” said Mokwena.
The “reprieve” comes after the country was plunged into varying stages of load shedding last week, just moments after President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his annual State of the Nation Address in which he announced a plan to end the rolling blackouts.
In his address, Ramaphosa laid out a plan aimed at addressing load shedding through the National Energy Crisis Committee.
He said that the National Energy Crisis Committee was committed to bringing substantial new power through private investment onto the grid.
Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said that despite obstacles, uncertainties and temporary setbacks, the end of load shedding was on the horizon.
Electricity tracking application, Eskom se Push, said so far in 2024, South Africa has had 39 days of national load shedding compared to last year when SA experienced 288 days of load shedding and 157 days of now electricity in 2022.
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