Eskom to reduce power cuts on Friday

South African state power utility Eskom said on Thursday it would reduce power cuts on Friday from 8 a.m local time (0600 GMT) due to lower demand and much improved weather.

On Wednesday Eskom ramped up power cuts to “stage 4” because of exceptionally high demand and breakdowns at its coal-fired power stations, but from 0600 GMT until 2000 GMT on Friday it will reduce them to “stage 3,” which requires up to 3,000 megawatts to be shed from the grid.

“In order to replenish the emergency generation reserves, load-shedding will then continue into the weekend,” Eskom said in a statement, adding that the system remains unreliable and vulnerable.