Power utility Eskom said it will be implementing stage 2 load shedding daily from Monday afternoon at 16:00 to 05:00 every morning until further notice.
In a statement released by Eskom on Sunday, the power utility said load shedding will be starting on Monday afternoon with stage 2 load shedding. It will be implemented from 16:00 until 05:00 every morning until further notice.
This comes a day after load shedding was suspended on Sunday afternoon.
The utility explained that nightly implementation of load shedding was mainly due to the need to preserve emergency generation reserves owing to a high level of breakdowns.
At the time when the statement was released on Sunday afternoon, Eskom said it had around 14,107MW of capacity unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns, and 4,963MW offline for planned maintenance.
“This morning a generation unit at Kriel Power Station was returned to service while the return to service of a unit at Majuba Power Station has been delayed,” Eskom said.
The power utility said load shedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.
Eskom has urged South Africans to use electricity sparingly.
It urged residents and businesses to switch off or unplug electrical appliances/devices during power outages or load shedding to avoid power surges when the electricity has been restored.
The utility added that failure to do so may lead to unnecessary trips/damages to appliances and devices.
Eskom said it would publish a further update on any changes in the load shedding schedule as soon as there were any significant changes.
Source: Eskom, Business Tech, IOL, My Broadband, Image from Twitter: @CapricornFMNews