Chances of load shedding on Tuesday was medium for the morning and very high for the evening and dependent on the performance of the power plant, Eskom said in a tweet. Eskom, which stopped stage 1 load shedding at about 21:46 on Monday, said the electricity supply system remains very vulnerable for the rest of the week.

South African consumers have been plunged in the dark for over 30 days since the beginning of this year in the worst electricity crunch since 2008 as the power utility struggles to meet demand due to a shortage of generation capacity as several units are currently out of service due to maintenance.

Eskom said maintenance is carried out to guarantee that its supply of electricity can be maintained in the long term.In a call on consumers to help save electricity, Eskom said “every little bit of saving counts in minimising the severity of load shedding”.

On Monday, Eskom implemented stage 1 load shedding (-1 000MW) from 17:00, the ninth consecutive day it has cut power from the grid. Outlook for the rest of the week:

Tuesday (21 April): The capacity available to meet evening peak demand is 29 650 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 32 162 MW.

Wednesday (22 April): The capacity available to meet that evenings peak demand is 29 650 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 32 047 MW.

Thursday (23 April): The capacity available to meet that evenings peak demand is 29 650 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 31 993 MW.

Friday (24 April): The capacity available to meet that evenings peak demand is 29 650 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 30 743 MW.

Saturday (25 April): The capacity available to meet that evenings peak demand is 29 840 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 29 412 MW.

Sunday (26 April): The capacity available to meet that evenings peak demand is 29 840 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 29 008 MW.