Cape Town - Eskom will implement stage 1 load shedding from 17:00 today, which is likely to continue until 22:00 this evening.
"This is due to a shortage of generation capacity as several units are currently out of service due to maintenance," Eskom said in its second media update on Monday.
* See GridWatch to plan load shedding.
"Because of maintenance, the system will not be able to meet 1 000MW of demand, meaning that although certain areas will be without electricity for a certain period, about 96% of South Africans will still continue to receive power supply at the same time.
"Eskom would like to assure customers that load shedding is implemented as a necessary measure to protect the power system and to ensure that maintenance is carried out in order to guarantee that our supply of electricity can be maintained in the long term.
"Eskom calls on all customers to reduce the load on the electricity grid by urgently switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand."
Earlier on Monday, Eskom said there would be no load shedding for the first half of the day as it had enough electricity generating capacity to meet demand.
Eskom has managed to limit load shedding to just over four hours in the past seven days as it continued its maintenance festival for the second consecutive long weekend.
"In the past seven days (168 hours), Eskom has only had to load shed for four hours and 31 minutes," Eskom said in a statement.