Suspending load shedding during traffic hours pilot programme: Eskom

“We will keep South Africans informed about the status of the electricity system and our recovery efforts throughout this period,” said the utility.

Eskom will suspend load shedding at 4 pm as part of efforts to reduce traffic congestion, it said on Monday.

"Further to the earlier update, Stage 2 load shedding will be suspended for two hours from 16:00 today, in an endeavor to ease traffic congestion. Load shedding will then resume at 18:00 until 06:00 tomorrow," said the power utility in an update.

Eskom said suspending load shedding during peak traffic hours is a pilot programme.

"As this is not possible every day, it will be confirmed each day, depending on the risk based on the available capacity and emergency reserves on the day," said the utility.

"We regret that load shedding has a negative impact on South Africa. Critical maintenance is being done on units that are currently on planned outages, as well as some of those on unplanned outages to ensure a timeous return to service.

"We will keep South Africans informed about the status of the electricity system and our recovery efforts throughout this period," said the utility.

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)