Eskom said on Tuesday night that it would implement stage 2 load shedding early on Wednesday morning "in order to accommodate the release of matric results".
In order to give matriculants an opportunity to receive their matric results, the implementation of Stage 2 load shedding had been delayed to 1am on Wednesday, said the power utility.
It added that the decision to delay the rotational blackouts would also allow matriculants enough time to make their way home safely.
"In order to minimise the impact of the load shedding on South Africans, load shedding is scheduled at night to maximise electricity availability during the working day.
"Owing to a loss of additional generation capacity, emergency reserves had to be extensively utilised to supplement capacity during the day. These now need to be replenished to meet [Wednesday's] electricity demand. The system remains constrained and unpredictable with breakdowns (UCLF) sitting at 13 600MW," said the utility via a statement.
"Our teams continue to work tirelessly to return units back from planned and unplanned outages. Owing to inadequate maintenance over a number of years, the system remains vulnerable to unplanned outages. We, however, remind customers that loadshedding is an essential and controlled measure to protect the power system from a total collapse or blackout."
Date: 07 January 2020
Eskom to implement Stage 2 loadshedding from 01:00 until 06:00 tomorrow morning in order to accommodate the release of matric results @SABCNewsOnline @eNCA @IOL @ewnupdates @TimesLIVE @BDliveSA @News24 @TheCitizen_News @SowetanLIVE pic.twitter.com/1Qa39P7ea3
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) January 7, 2020