Troubled State-owned power utility Eskom has announced it will ease load shedding to stage 2 from midday on Friday until further notice.
This comes after the embattled utility reduced loadshedding from stage 4 to stage 3 on Wednesday morning.
In a short statement on Friday the utility says this is due to improvements in the generation capacity.
“Due to further improvements in the generation capacity over the past 24 hours, stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented from 12:00 midday today until further notice,” said Eskom interim spokesperson Daphne Mokwena.
The decision to ease the planned power cuts comes a day after Eskom said here has been a notable improvement in the performance of six of its coal-fired power station.
This is a milestone the utility last achieved in May 2022.
“Power stations Camden, Duvha and Matla, have been on a sustained upward trend as a result of a reduction of plant breakdowns and the return to service of a number of units that were on unplanned breakdowns,” said Mokwena.
“Lethabo, Matimba and Medupi have been experiencing continued good performance and remain among Eskom’s three best performing stations. In addition, Lethabo was able to sustain performance after a quick recovery following a wet coal incident experienced last week, due to flooding after excessive rainfall.”
Meanwhile, Eskom has urged customers to continue to use electricity sparingly and switch off all non-essential appliances to reduce the demand on the grid.
The company has also assured customers that it will continue to provide regular updates on the status of the power system.
Find this weekend’s schedule for load shedding here.
