Photo by: Duane Daws
The electricity system would remain significantly constrained over the weekend, State-owned utility Eskom has said.
“[While] certain areas will be without electricity for a certain period, about 96% of South Africans will still continue to receive power supply,” it noted in a statement.
Eskom announced on Friday afternoon that it would implement stage 1 load-shedding from 17:00 to 22:00, but warned that it could, at short notice, change the load-shedding stage.
The utility had earlier forecast demand of 31 426 MW for Friday, while it had 30 878 MW of capacity available to meet demand.
On Saturday and Sunday, Eskom would have capacity of 31 068 MW available to meet demand of 30 342 MW and 31 156 MW respectively.
Electricity demand would also outstrip supply early next week.
The utility forecast demand for electricity on Monday to reach 33 352 MW, while the capacity available to meet demand was estimated at 31 998 MW.
Electricity demand for Tuesday and Wednesday was forecast at 33 473 MW and 33 463 MW respectively, while available capacity was estimated at 31 710 MW and 31 460 MW respectively.