Pretoria - Residents in Pretoria should brace themselves for staggered power cuts of between three and four hours at a time, the city said on Thursday.
“(We) would like to warn customers that the load shedding might last for a week,” the city's spokesman Selby Bokaba said.
He said the city received an instruction for staggered power cuts from Eskom.
Bokaba said the city had already started switching off customers in Atteridgeville and Saulsville.
“Municipalities across the country have been advised to await further instructions on the schedule of areas likely to experience rotational load shedding,” he said.
On Thursday, Eskom spokesman Andrew Etzinger said seven days of heavy rain had left coal stocks wet.
“We have asked our large industrial customers to reduce their consumption by 10 percent but it appears this will not be enough,” Etzinger said.
Bokaba said a schedule of the power cuts would be available on the city website on Friday.
Sapa