Eskom: Stage 1 load shedding kicks in

Cape Town - Eskom has announced that it would implement Stage 1 load shedding from 17:00 on Tuesday.

According to Eskom this is due to a shortage of generation capacity as several units are currently out of service due to maintenance.

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"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," it said in a statement.  
                                                
"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."

The announcement comes after Eskom earlier said it had enough electricity generating capacity to meet demand for most of the day.
 
However, the supplier did say that the power system was expected to be constrained from 17:00 to 21:00.

READ: No load shedding for most of the day - Eskom