Eskom said the power system is constrained, due to ongoing high levels of planned maintenance.
As a result, unplanned outages are at 3.3% lower than they were last year.
The power utility also said high electricity demand is driven by overcast weather conditions nationwide, which are expected to continue until next Wednesday.
There are sufficient emergency reserves in place to manage peak demand.
Eskom said there is currently 7,034MW of the generation capacity is under planned maintenance.
About R3.4 billion was spent on diesel in the last 30 days, representing a 2.1% decrease compared to the previous 30-day period. Diesel spend at year-end, for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, was reduced by R16.51 billion. This reflects actual spending which is 49.5% less than the R33.35 billion spent during the previous financial year (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024).
A total of 3,300MW is expected to be returned to service before the evening peak on Monday, 7 April 2025, to further stabilise the grid.
From 28 March to 3 April 2025, average unplanned outages were reduced to 13,609MW.
As of Friday, the 04th April 2025, unplanned outages has decreased slightly to 13,608MW from 13,730MW last week. The available generation capacity is at 26,735MW.
From 1 to 3 April 2025, the year-to-date Energy Availability Factor (EAF) stands at 56.58%, remaining nearly unchanged from the same period last year (56.8%). The EAF for the previous year (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025) was ~60.6%.
Picture: Affinity Health