Members of the public will get a reprieve from stage six rolling blackouts from Thursday.
Eskom has announced that it has implemented stage four starting from 5am this morning until midnight.
This will be reduced to stage two on Friday.
On Tuesday, Eskom ramped up rolling blackouts to stage six.
The first and only time South Africa last endured this level of power cuts was in December 2019.
The power utility’s spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsha says the grid is constrained because of Eskom workers’ unprotected strike: “Eskom continues to closely monitor the system and will implement any changes as may be necessary. Due to the unlawful and unprotected labour action, which has caused widespread disruption to Eskom’s power plants, Eskom is unable to return some generators to service.”
Mantshantsha adds: “This has compelled Eskom to continue taking precautionary measures to conserve emergency generation capacity and safeguard plant from damage. There remains a risk that the stage of loadshedding may have to change at any time, depending on the state of the plant.”
