Cape Town - Eskom will implement stage 2 load shedding from 10:00 on Thursday, which is likely to continue until 22:00 this evening.
"If there is a need to move to stage 3, we will communicate accordingly," Eskom said in a power alert.
"This is due to a shortage of generation capacity as several units are currently out of service due to planned and unplanned outages."
Plan your load shedding: GridWatch
Stage 2 load shedding requires a reduction of about 2000MW – meaning that although certain areas will be without electricity for a certain period, about 93% of South Africans will still continue to receive full power supply at that time.
"We request all customers to assist us in managing demand by urgently switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand and thus alleviate pressure on the electricity grid.
"It should be noted that Eskom implements load shedding as a last resort to protect the national grid from a total shutdown. We utilise all necessary emergency resources at our disposal, but if demand does not decrease, we implement load shedding.
"Commercial customers, particularly shopping centres and office blocks, can make a big difference by switching off non-essential lights and not leaving office equipment such as photocopiers and computers in standby mode after hours."
Eskom gave its state of the system briefing on Monday in which it highlighted the week's power demand and capacity.
"On a technical side, the engineers are doing all things possible to bring all generators back on the grid," Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said on Monday.
On Thursday, the capacity available (as forecast on Monday) to meet that evening’s peak demand was 29 642 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while the demand was forecast at 31 032 MW.
The capacity available from Friday, through to Sunday, was (on Monday) as follows (please note that these are estimates and will likely differ from the actual figures):
Friday (27 February): The capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 29 563 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 29 521 MW.
Saturday (28 February): The capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 29 430 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 28 324 MW.
Sunday (1 March): The capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 29 620 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 28 583 MW.