Eskom announced on Monday that loadshedding has been suspended due to significantly lower-than-anticipated demand for electricity.
The news came as EFF-led marches got under way around the country to call for the immediate resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa and an end to rolling power cuts.
The power utility said loadshedding will return at 4pm on Tuesday, when the power cuts will be rolled out at stage two.
The state-owned power utility said on Friday that it would drop loadshedding for the weekend due to improvements in generation capacity last week.
It said at the time that unpredictable breakdown of power plants at Camden, Duvha, and Matla had reduced significantly, meaning these plants had returned to service.
In addition, it said, Lethabo, Matimba, and Medupi power plants were also showing signs of continued good performance and remained among Eskom’s three best-performing stations.
“In addition, Lethabo was able to sustain performance after a quick recovery following a wet coal incident last week due to flooding following the excessive rainfall,” Eskom said.
The power utility has been rolling power cuts between stages four and five since the start of the week.
Due to the significantly lower than anticipated demand for electricity today, loadshedding will be suspended at 11:00 today until 16:00 on Tuesday 21 March, when Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented.
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) March 20, 2023
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