Rugby fans can expect slightly fewer interruptions to their TV time this weekend, with scheduled power cuts expected to ease a little from early on Saturday morning. 

This follows the implementation of Stage 6 when Eskom recently suffered several breakdowns at the same time as it ramped up maintenance.

Due to the recovery of some generation units while planned maintenance is still under way, Stage 5 load shedding was implemented at 05:00 on Friday and will continue until 05:00 on Saturday, Eskom said on Friday afternoon.

Thereafter, Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 05:00 until 16:00, followed by Stage 4 load shedding from 16:00 until 05:00 on Sunday.

The further reduction in the stages of loadshedding in the coming weekend is due to the expected additional generation recovery, improved emergency generation reserves, and the lower weekend demand.