By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will be implemented all day at stage 1 and stage 2 until the weekend.
- Stage 2 load shedding will continue to be implemented on a daily basis between 16h00 and 05h00 until Friday.
- Stage 1 load shedding will then be implemented daily from 05h00 to 16h00 until Friday.
“The increase in load shedding is mainly due to the need to preserve emergency generation reserves, the delay in returning four generating units to service while many running units are operating at reduced capacity due to technical faults,” the group said.
Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes.
The delay in the return of two generating units at Camden, one unit each at Kendal and Matimba power stations has contributed to the generation capacity shortages.
The group said it currently has 3,945MW on planned maintenance, while another 14,499MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
South Africa’s power situation is getting worse as breakdowns of Eskom’s generation fleet multiply – and the economy is taking severe strain, as a result, say economists at Absa.
This is marching South Africa to another quarter of economic decline in Q3 2022, they said, which would put the country in a technical recession following the load-shedding-driven decline in the second quarter of the year.
While the economic impact of this is difficult to calculate due to the complexity and overlappings in the market, the bank estimates that 1 percentage point of GDP growth has been wiped from the quarter and that it could lead to a cut of 1.3pp to GDP for the year.
“Unfortunately, without adding substantial new generating capacity, a quick turnaround in this growth-dampening situation seems unlikely,” it said. “Consequently, we see regular bouts of cuts continuing into 2024, with further negative consequences for growth.”
Absa said that South African businesses have become more adept at dealing with lower stages of load shedding and that the economy, in general, has become less energy-intensive over time, with structural shift towards services.
However, because load shedding is happening at short notice, and stages are escalating and becoming more frequent, the damage being done is increasing and leaving less time for businesses to be productive.
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.
Meanwhile the board of Eskom says it embraces preferential procurement rules and “all government policies aimed at transforming the economy”.
This after a weekend newspaper reported that Eskom board member Mteto Nyati suggested that some empowerment and localisation rules constrain the power utility.
Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwana emphasised that the power places “a high premium on our role as a catalyst for transformation and empowerment”.
“Eskom continues to be the largest supporter of black owned suppliers who are positively contributing value to the production of electricity and we promote black industrialisation as a deliberate approach to supply chain management, localisation and industrialisation in our value chain,” Makwana said.
The power utility said it is committed to supporting youth and black women through its procurement processes.
“The Eskom board fully comprehends [empowerment] imperatives and is totally cognisant of the challenges many South Africans continue to face in terms of playing meaningful roles and livelihoods in the mainstream of the economy.
“As and when Eskom engages global players and contractors, due cognisance is always taken to facilitate local beneficiation and empowerment of South Africans – especially black women and the youth who continue to be the most marginalised members of our society,” the power utility said.
Eskom reported that in the previous financial year, it has procured some R134 billion in goods and services from Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) compliant companies.
“This represents approximately 76% of Eskom’s total measured procurement spend on all contracts last year – higher than the 64.5% total measured procurement spent on black empowered suppliers in 2021.
“Procurement spend on black owned and black youth owned suppliers rose to 47.1% in 2022, from 34.6% the previous year,” Eskom said.