New Year's Eve will be lit: Eskom suspends load-shedding

Eskom has suspended load-shedding, saying the demand for electricity has dropped ahead of the long weekend.

Consumers are still being asked to use electricity sparingly, as supply is limited and the utility is focusing its energy on getting the system ready for when people return to work after the festive season.

“Eskom requests the people of SA to continue using electricity sparingly as the system remains vulnerable and unstable,” it said in a statement.

“Eskom will use the lower demand opportunity to replenish the emergency generation reserves in preparation for the higher demand expected during January as economic activity resumes.

“During this period Eskom will also continue to pursue increased reliability maintenance as planned. While this will put pressure on the generation plant, maintenance is necessary in order to improve the reliability and performance of the power stations.”

Eskom said it currently has 9,170MW on planned maintenance, while another 11,334MW capacity is unavailable due to unplanned maintenance.

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