Eskom has announced that it will implement stage 1 load-shedding from 16:00 until 22:00 on Wednesday 9 September.
Load-shedding will be suspended for the remainder of Tuesday 8 September, the power utility said.
“We have cancelled stage 1 for this evening,” Eskom said. “No load-shedding to be implemented tonight.”
“Tomorrow, we will implement load-shedding stage 1 from 16:00 until 22:00.”
This follows after Eskom announced that load-shedding would be downgraded to stage 1 and would only be implemented from 16:00 until 22:00 tonight.
Eskom said at the time that this downgrade of its initial planned load-shedding was due to the return to service of power generation units as of Monday night.
The power utility stated that it will continue to communicate any changes to the supply situation.
Renewable future
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has said that the future of the power utility lies in energy sources like solar and wind power.
He said, however, that it will cost Eskom R60 billion over the next decade to make its power fleet environmentally compliant.
“This is money which we frankly just don’t have,” De Ruyter said.
He recognised that Eskom cannot continue to violate environmental laws, and said this provides the national power provider with an opportunity to move to cleaner energy.
This change requires certain regulatory approvals, and Eskom is engaging with the government in this regard.