Cape Town – Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has denied allegations linking the absence of load shedding to the upcoming national and provincial elections.
Eskom attributes its improved electricity generation performance to planned maintenance and other factors, resulting in over 40 consecutive days without load shedding.
“Following the suspension for 39 consecutive days, load shedding remains suspended until further notice due to ongoing sustained improvements in generation performance.
Loadshedding remains suspended due to continued sustained improvement in Generation performance and a 4 400MW reduction in unplanned outages pic.twitter.com/oe1HweVQjt
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) May 5, 2024
“Over the past few weeks, there has been a consistent and significant improvement in curbing unplanned outages – technically known as the Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (UCLF) – due to the success of the Generation Operational Recovery plan which commenced in March 2023,” said Eskom in a statement on Sunday.
Ramokgopa outlined Eskom’s winter outlook plan on Monday, highlighting a structural improvement in generation capacity and the reclamation of 1,000 megawatts compared to the previous year.
He also mentioned reduced evening peak demand due to solar panel usage incentivized by the National Treasury.
Ramokgopa dismissed claims of load shedding suspension being election-related, emphasising ongoing efforts to stabilise Eskom and increase reliability
“We are in the silly season. There’s going to be a number of interpretations of what is before us, whether there is a correlation of this improvement to the elections,” he said.
[WATCH] Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa denies claims of political pressure on Eskom to keep the lights on ahead of the elections. He attributes the stability of the national grid to the power utility’s efforts.#Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/1zJLsKdv8i
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) May 6, 2024
He continued: “There is no correlation between this performance and the date of the 29th of May. When the team was making these efforts, when we ramped up planned maintenance in December and January, little did we know that there would be a big date with ballots.”
He assured that the halt in load shedding was not orchestrated but a result of strategic engineering efforts.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu