Housing in Southern Africa February 2015

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News
Shadow 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
).
Consumers can also contact the
customer call centre on 0860 037 566,
whilemunicipal customers are urged
to contact their local authorities. ■
Eskom’s increased power cuts