On Tuesday morning, Eskom announced that it would resume load reduction. Load shedding remains suspended, however.

Load reduction is when power is switched off in neighbourhoods where illegal connections cause overload and damage infrastructure, particularly transformers. Load reduction is meant to protect Eskom's infrastructure by reducing electricity usage during peak hours.

By comparison, load shedding is when Eskom does not have enough capacity to generate electricity, and the country is hit by scheduled, controlled blackouts across different areas. Load shedding has been suspended for 103 consecutive days. In a statement, Eskom said the onset of winter has seen a spike in "network overloading".

About 94% of the overloaded transformers are due to electricity theft – including illegal connections, network equipment theft, vandalism, meter bypasses and tampering, unauthorised network operations and purchasing electricity from illegal vendors.

Eskom’s electricity infrastructure is designed to provide enough power for legally connected customers. Exceeding these loads through electricity theft can overload the equipment, potentially causing explosions that may lead to electrical fires.

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