Eskom has announced that it will reduce the intensity of load-shedding to Stage 3 from 21:00 on Thursday night until 05:00 on Friday morning. Thereafter Stage 2 will be implemented until 05:00 on Monday, as previously communicated.

The slight reprieve has been facilitated by a recovery in some generation capacity over the past 24 hours, and an improvement in emergency reserves.

Total breakdowns had fallen to 13 942 MW from over 15 439 MW on Wednesday, while planned maintenance stood at 7 136 MW, up from 5 505 MW.