Housing in Southern Africa February 2015

News

Eskom’s increased power cuts

S hadow Minister of Public En- terprise, NatashaMichaels says that national energy provider, Eskom, is killing the country’s econ- omy. Eskom has failed to maintain our power stations with devastating effects, and is on the brink of bank- ruptcy says Michaels, who points out that it is due to the self-confessed neglect by Eskom of its own mainte- nance plans, that South Africa now finds itself at the mercy of increased power cuts. CEO Tshediso Matona has stated that government’s policy failure and Eskom’s lax maintenance schedule are to blame for the current problems facing the national energy provider. Until Eskom’s monopoly over South Africa’s electricity generation and distribution is ended, the cur- rent electricity crisis will continue. If Eskom continues with business as usual the following will occur: Eskom will continue to come, cap in hand, to Treasury, i.e. to allocate cash bailouts and government guar- antees. The devastating cycle of load- shedding will continue to ruin our economy and kill jobs, Infrastructure

will continue to age, fall into disrepair and collapse, adding more pressure to the national grid. “The introduc- tion of independent power producers ismore critical than ever and together with other sources of electricity, such as renewables, will play a larger part in our plans. The only solution to South Africa’s energy crisis is in add- ing more producers to the grid, who can pick up the slack Eskom leaves as its power stations remain on the blink. We are in a grave energy crisis and Eskommust begin rectifying the years of neglect and dereliction of duty,” says Michaels. Eskom has announced that the power system is constrained, putting the country into a state of rotational load shedding. Acting Chief Executive of Eskom,

Dan Marokane says, “Stage One of load shedding allows for up to 1000 MW to be shed off the grid; Stage Two allows for up to 2 000 MW to be shed; while Stage Three of load shedding allows for up to 4 000 MW to be shed.” The power utility has called on consumers to switchoffnon-essential appliances such as geysers, air condi- tioners and pumps to reduce electric- ity demand. Energy users around the country have already experienced Stage Two load shedding. The util- ity has advised consumers to check the load shedding schedules, which are available on the Eskom website (http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za). Consumers can also contact the customer call centre on 0860 037 566, whilemunicipal customers are urged to contact their local authorities. ■

February 2015