Rustenburg –Stage 4 load shedding will be lowered to stage 3 on Monday, Eskom said.
"As previously communicated, Stage 4 load shedding is currently being implemented until 5 on Monday morning, where after it will be reduced to stage 3 until 5 on Tuesday morning. From Tuesday morning Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented until further notice," Eskom said in a statement on Sunday.
The electricity utility said a further update would be published as soon as there were any significant changes.
Eskom said load shedding was being implemented due to a high number of breakdowns and the requirement to preserve the remaining emergency generation reserves while creating space to replenish the dam levels at the pumped storage schemes.
"A generating unit each at Grootvlei and Matimba power stations were taken off-line for repairs over the past 24 hours. The delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Arnot and Duvha power stations has contributed to the capacity constraints."
A generating unit each at Kriel and Matla power stations were returned to service during this period," Eskom said
"We currently have 6 392MW on planned maintenance, while another 16 318MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
"As previously communicated, due to the depletion of the budget to acquire diesel for the Open Cycle Gas Turbines, Eskom has been forced to strictly conserve the remainder of the fuel reserves to protect against further unplanned outages."
Eskom said the imminent refuelling and maintenance outage, as well as the long-term operation project of Unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear power station, together with the October chimney failure that has forced three generation units off-line at Kusile power station, would further reduce available generation capacity and significantly increase the occurrence of load shedding during the next 6 -12 months.
"Eskom requests the public to exercise patience and tolerance during this difficult period. Load shedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns."
IOL