Eskom has announced that load-shedding will be suspended on Friday.

Power utility CEO Andre de Ruyter told a media briefing that load-shedding would be lifted on Friday at 5am as opposed to Saturday as previously announced.

“From Friday 5am there will be no more load-shedding,” he said.

De Ruyter also announced that load-shedding would be reduced to Stage 2 as of Thursday midday.

He said the good recovery in the system had enabled Eskom to reduce load-shedding from stage 3 to stage 2 from Thursday.

“We’ll maintain stage 2 until Friday 5am following which it will be lifted. We can reduce load-shedding by a collaborative effort with everyone. There are 14-million households in South Africa and if all households switch off unnecessary lights, it’ll reduce by the load of 800 megawatts. Small actions and being energy aware can lead to managing the system better,” he said.

Speaking on the noncompliant municipalities, Eskom group executive for distribution Monde Bala said some had disputed this but the matter had been handed over to the energy regulator.

“One municipality had cited infrastructure challenges. In Limpopo, one municipality said they could not open and close their breakers and this resulted in them not being able to be fully compliant,” Bala said.