By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Eskom says it will be moving back load shedding during the evening peak period after weeks of near 24-hour schedules.
The group said it would remain at stage 3 load shedding on Friday (15 July) until midnight, with stage 2 load shedding coming into effect again on Saturday and Sunday between 16h00 and 00h00.
This schedule will continue throughout next week unless something changes, it said. “Eskom will promptly announce and implement any changes as may be necessary. A full statement will be issued when necessary.”
The group previously said that as the generation capacity shortages persist over the next few weeks, load shedding will continue to be implemented at various stages. It cautioned the public that it will still take a few weeks for the power generation system to recover.
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.
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana noted that load shedding was a challenge South Africa has been grappling with for the last 14 years, with the outages costing about 40% of the country’s economic performance over that time.
Godongwana said that the government is working on several emergency interventions to address the load shedding crisis, including emergency procurement of new capacity and emergency maintenance.
Despite the power cuts and ongoing global energy crisis, Godongwana said Treasury’s GDP and inflation estimates remain unchanged, with the South African Reserve Bank forecasting inflation of 5.1% this year, with inflation also expected to remain below the 6% level in 2023.
“Our key problem is a growth issue and unemployment. There are a number of challenges that impact us in reigning in debt, but we are carefully watching those downside risks and building p appropriate buffers to deal with that.”
Meanwhile the ruling African National Congress is considering forming a second state-owned power utility to challenge Eskom’s monopoly in the country, says president Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa was presenting at the South African Communist Party’s elective congress on Friday (15 July), The president said that establishing a new utility would help reduce the risk posed by Eskom’s failings.
He added that the proposal was originally made by Energy and Mineral Resources minister Gwede Mantashe after the power utility recently plunged the country into stage six load shedding.
Eskom has been operating as a monopoly for over 100 years and having one company taking up the role of providing energy to the entire country poses a great risk. If it fails, its failure becomes a peculiar failure for the entire country, “he said.
“Look at China. It has a number of state-owned power providers who compete among themselves ensuring that the price of electricity is greatly reduced.”
Eskom poses a significant risk to the economy and public finances, with the government guaranteeing as much as R350 billion of its debt. The utility has been intermittently cutting 6,000 megawatts from the grid since last month, leaving the country in darkness for hours at a time and further constraining industrial output and growth.
Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation in the coming days on his government’s new interventions around load shedding. It is not clear whether the formation of a new power utility forms part of the new interventions.