Eskom power outage. Picture- iStock
South Africans can breathe a brief sigh of relief as Eskom announces the suspension of load shedding on Saturday.
According to the power utility, the system has recovered to a point where load shedding can be stopped at 12 midday.
“Generation units at Matla, Majuba, Grootvlei and Kendal power stations as well as the non-commercial Kusile unit have returned to service this morning. A further unit each at Matimba and Arnot power stations are expected to return to service today,” explained Eskom in a statement.
Eskom further confirmed that emergency reserves have been adequately replenished and are available to support the system next week.
“Although we have brought back these generators, the onset of winter has seen increased demand and this will lead to a constrained system throughout the winter. We, therefore, urge all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly.”
“We currently have 3 872MW on planned maintenance, while another 13 326MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.”
This comes after load shedding was reduced to Stage 1 on Friday due to the lower weekend demand.