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Eskom said on Saturday it does not expect any load shedding during the day, despite experiencing "severely constrained" electricity system due to an unplanned breakdown.
"While a number of units have returned to service, Eskom unexpectedly lost some generation units last night but load shedding is not expected," the state-owned company said in a statement .
It said it will continue to use emergency reserves to supplement capacity if necessary over this period, warning customers that the system continues to be vulnerable and unpredictable and that "the possibility of load shedding remains."
Early this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa assured the nation that Eskom "should not be in a position to have any form of load shedding" between December 17 and January 15, 2020.
This came after the company implemented rotational power cuts from November, as it battled systems breakdowns at its power stations. The power supply constraints saw Eskom early this month introduce Stage 6 of load shedding for the first time, amid massive public outcry.
Eskom had previously only implemented load shedding up to Stage 4, which allows for cuts of up to 4 000MW. Stage 6 allows for up to 6 000MW to be shed from the national grid, about 12% of Eskom's nominal total capacity.
The company said on Saturday its technical teams will continue to work over the holiday period to monitor the situation, carry out planned maintenance and to work at reducing unplanned breakdowns to below 9 500MW to enable us to minimise the possibility of load shedding.
