South Africans will have to get used to regular loadshedding for the next year or even longer.

Eskom Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer said the rolling blackouts will go on until sufficient generating capacity is added to the electricity grid to meet demand.

"We need another year or year-and-a-half to get out of this. We are going to go through a tough time over the next year and a half."

Oberholzer said this while addressing the Agri SA congress on Thursday, News24 reported.

"Work that Eskom has done to alleviate the country's energy crisis will help ensure the situation won't be as dire as it might have been.

"Still, it may be necessary for the utility to take a 'bold step' and implement so-called stage 2 load-shedding for a lengthy period to enable Eskom to carry out necessary maintenance," Oberholzer added.

The country is currently experiencing stage 2 loadshedding with the power utility announcing on Thursday that it will be downgraded to stage 1 from Friday.

In a statement, Eskom said it will attempt to limit the amount of rolling loadshedding during the evening to try and limit the impact it has on the economy and population.

"Since Tuesday a generation unit each at Camden, Kriel, Kusile, Matla and Medupi power stations were returned to service. Two generating units at Majuba and one at Tutuka power stations were taken offline for repairs," said Eskom.