Eskom reduces load shedding to stage one from 9pm on Friday

Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will be reduced to stage one over the weekend effective from Friday (tonight) at 9pm tonight until 05:00 on Monday.

The power utility’s spokesperson Sikonathi Manntshantsha said: “As good progress has been achieved in recovering generation capacity Friday, 04 February 2022: Following an improvement in the generation capacity, together with the traditionally reduced weekend demand, load shedding will be reduced to Stage 1 from 21:00 tonight and will remain at that level until 05:00 on Monday.

Despite the progress, Eskom said that it would remain cautious, and called for the same from citizens as “this is not sufficient to suspend load shedding at this point.

“Eskom will continue to evaluate the system and make the necessary adjustments as soon as conditions allow.”

It said that since Thursday evening, a generating unit at the Kusile Power Station was returned to service while a unit at the Hendrina Power Station was shut down to repair a boiler tube leak. A unit each Duvha, Kriel and Hendrina power stations were taken offline for planned maintenance.

SA has been on Stage 2 load shedding since on Wednesday, due to a shortage of generation capacity.

Mantshantsha said that the “total breakdowns amount to 13 277MW while planned maintenance is 6 728MW of capacity as we continue with the reliability maintenance. Eskom appeals to all South Africans to help limit the impact of loadshedding by reducing the usage of electricity and to switch off non-essential items.”

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