Just a day following the reduction of load shedding from stage 6 to stage 3, Eskom has ramped up the rolling blackouts to stage 4 on Monday afternoon.
The power utility said it must increase rotational power cuts to manage the higher-than-anticipated demand and its emergency reserves.
“Due to the increasing demand combined with insufficient generating capacity and the need to manage the emergency reserves, stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 14:00 until 05:00 on Saturday, “said Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokoena.
Eskom said it will announce any changes to the load-shedding schedule should they be required.
According to the entity, a total of 22 244 megawatts unavailable generation capacity, and the power utility has forecast a peak evening demand of over 28 000 megawatts.
“In the last 24 hours, 500 megawatts generating capacity was taken offline whilst in the same period 600 megawatts were returned to service.
“Approximately 1 300 megawatts of generating capacity are anticipated to return to service by Tuesday evening.”
The power utility currently has 6 820 megawatts of generation capacity offline for planned maintenance, with a further 15 424 megawatts unavailable due to breakdowns.
During a media briefing on Sunday in Pretoria, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the country will experience less load shedding over the December period and added that some would be load-shedding free.