Power utility Eskom says it will suspend load shedding during the day and implement stage 2 in the evenings until Wednesday (4 October).

“As anticipated, with breakdowns at an improved 12,983MW of generation capacity and evening peak demand forecast at 28,382 MW, load shedding will continue to be suspended until 16h00 today (2 October),” it said.

“Thereafter, Stage 2 load shedding will resume at 16h00 until 05h00 on Tuesday.”

This pattern of suspending load shedding from 05h00 until 16h00 and implementing stage 2 from 16h00 until 05h00, will be repeated daily until Wednesday.

The schedule is as follows:

Monday, 2 October

• Suspended: until 16h00
• Stage 2: 16h00 to 00h00

Tuesday, 3 October

• Stage 2: 00h00 to 05h00
• Suspended: 05h00 to 16h00
• Stage 2: 16h00 to 00h00

Wednesday, 4 October

• Stage 2: 00h00 to 05h00
• Suspended: 05h00 to TBA

The extended suspension of load shedding comes as the power utility returned unit 3 of the Kusile Power Stations two months ahead of its planned return date.

This will eventually add another 800MW to the grid once fully online, which should go some way in easing the pressure on the national grid.

Unit 3 was planned to be back online at the end of November 2023, with the remaining two units back up in December. However, unit 3 is now back up, with the remaining unit expected to be online earlier than planned as well.

Positively, Eskom’s current outages are also lower than the target set for its forward-looking forecast, which is set at 14,500MW.

If the group manages to maintain outages at or below these levels, Eskom has a higher chance of keeping load shedding capped at stage 4 in the coming months as demand picks up.