By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom will suspend load shedding through the daytime next week, and implement Stage 2 load shedding in the late afternoon until early morning.
In a statement Eskom said, “In order to replenish the emergency reserves for the week ahead, Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 16h00 on Sunday until 05h00 on Monday morning.”
However, load shedding will be suspended between 05h00 and 16h00 before moving to stage 2 in the evenings between 16h00 and 05h00 until further notice.
Eskom said it will communicate any significant changes should they occur.
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 Mineral Resources and Energy minister Gwede Mantashe has said that the deal to have Russian state-owned company Gazprombank invest in technically insolvent PetroSA for a share of its profits to restart its mothballed gas-to-liquid fuel refinery should be the preferred way for government to deal with embattled SOEs.
Mantashe said that this is because it would not entail the sale of state assets.
According to the timelines presented to the mineral resources and energy committee, the technical verification is expected to be completed at the end of April, funding and investment decisions will be finalised by September, with financial close a month later.
Cabinet in December 2023 approved Gazprombank Africa as partner for the PetrolSA’s gas-to-liquid (GTL) refinery built to produce synthetic petrol from gas and gas condensate. It has been under care and maintenance since 2020 when gas supplies started running short.
The deal estimated at R3.7-billion is controversial, not least of which is the sanctions imposed on Gazprombank in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A factor that potentially could complicate the Mossel Bay refinery reinstatement timeline, and the Gazprombank Africa deal, is the 29 May election.