By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding has been suspended at midday on Sunday, 06 November 2022.
In a statement, the utility will this afternoon publish a statement about the load shedding schedule for next week.
This follows the utility announcing both Stage 1 and 2 load shedding this weekend, with Stage 1 originally planned for this Sunday until 16h00 and Stage 2 following until midnight.
The suspension has also resulted in planned Stage 2 load shedding for Monday (7 November), awaiting confirmation in an update.
Suspended load shedding marks a slight moment of reprieve from South Africa’s worst year of load shedding. Even with two months left of the year – it still measures as the worst year yet.
Eskom has been implementing load shedding for weeks on end; the government has fast-tracked legislation to address the situation; however, little progress is seen by the average South African.
Breakdowns, as well as planned maintenance at certain critical stations, have plagued the utility with the most recent at Camden, Duvha, Kusile, and Majuba power stations.
Meanwhile Eskom has invited interested parties to review and comment on the recently completed socioeconomic-impact assessment study for the komati power station, which is being decommissioned and repurposed.
The study is said to provide a detailed analysis of the potential impacts that could follow as a result of the closure of the power station and it proposes a plan to mitigate the identified impacts.
The resultant socioeconomic-impact mitigation implementation plan is noted to follow a holistic approach and recommends solutions for repurposing and repowering the power station.
The proposed solutions are multifaceted and seek to mitigate the effects on Eskom, the community and the economy through reskilling and upskilling Komati power station’s staff and qualifying beneficiaries from the surrounding communities, as well as the development of local enterprises and value chains to support the overall just energy transition (JET) strategy, Eskom said.
In support of the JET strategy, Eskom had commissioned studies to understand the impact of the power station shutdown on society and the economy within the affected areas.
In January 2020, following what the utility says was a strict procurement process, Eskom awarded Urban-Econ Development Economists a contract to undertake a socioeconomic-impact study on the planned shutdown and repurposing of the aged Komati, Hendrina and Grootvlei coal-fired power stations, in Mpumalanga.
This study was noted to be undertaken proactively to assess the prevailing socioeconomic conditions within the immediate and greater Mpumalanga area, and to develop mitigation measures to reduce the potential negative social and economic impacts that could ensue from the shutdown of these three power stations.
As part of the study methodology, Urban-Econ Development Economists undertook an extensive social and economic data gathering and investigation process, inclusive of several stakeholder engagement sessions.
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