Loadshedding will be reduced for the weekend from stage six to stage three, the power utility said in a statement on Friday, attributing the sudden change to lower demand.
The state-owned entity, which has been rolling out stage-six power cuts for almost two weeks now, said stage three will kick in from 5am on Saturday until 4pm.
“Thereafter, stage five will be implemented from 4pm until 5am on Sunday, followed by stage 4 from 4pm to 5am on Monday,” said the power utility.
The utility added that stage six will again be implemented thereafter.
Energy analyst Ted Blom told Sunday World in December that Eskom was losing generation capacity due to its use of poor quality coal.
“Eskom has not invested in its long-term coal supply since 2002. As a result, most of the existing coal mines are battling to supply the required coal because they have been unable to develop their mines,” he said.
Blom said at the time that if Eskom moved to stage eight, the power utility would probably load shed for more than 12 hours daily.
According to Blom, Eskom came close to reaching stage seven earlier in December.
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