Eskom says South Africans should prepare themselves for load shedding until Friday at the latest.
“We believe that we will be in a position to assess on Thursday evening.
“Obviously, demand tends to drop on Friday, so probably if things improve, we will then assess on Friday morning (regarding) when we should be stopping,” said Eskom group executive for generation, Phillip Dukashe, at a media briefing yesterday.
“At this stage, best case is that we will be stopping load shedding some time during Friday.
“That also depends on how we can replenish our reserves because that is important.
“As we prepare for the start of the next week, we would like to have all our diesel and our pump storage in a healthy state.”
On Tuesday morning, Eskom announced it would be implementing Stage 4 load shedding, following the tripping of its generation units at Majuba Unit 5 and Tutuka Unit 4.
The implementation of the higher level blackouts came as a heavy blow to South Africans after the power utility implemented Stage 2 load shedding on Sunday, which was supposed to end today.
At the time, Eskom said Stage 2 load shedding was implemented due to additional generation unit losses and the delayed return to service of generators.
Eskom said load shedding is implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid.
Meanwhile, City of Cape Town customers should check the City’s app for the latest stages of load shedding.
The City typically sheds one stage lower than Eskom in a bid to protect its customers.