Cape Town — Contrary to what reports have alleged, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says he is not aware of Eskom implementing stage 8 load shedding last week.
South Africans spent a significant portion of last week in darkness after load shedding stage 6 had been implemented.
Eskom said that two generating units at Kriel Power Station were taken offline for repairs. The delays in returning a unit to service at Kendal, Kriel, Medupi and Tutuka power stations have contributed to the capacity constraints.
The utility added that breakdowns have taken some 17 325MW of generating capacity offline with a further 5457MW unavailable due to scheduled maintenance.
According to TImesLIVE, the utility implemented stage 8 load-shedding despite saying it was stage 6. Eskom reportedly shed 7 072MW, which landed it in the stage 8 threshold of 7 001MW to 8 000MW.
However, Ramokgopa maintained that load shedding has yet to surpass stage 6.
“I did indicate from the onset of my responsibilities that I am going to be very honest, transparent and brutally honest with the South African public. I had indicated that if there is any degree of deterioration of the grid I’ll communicate that directly with the South African public. I have noted some reporters suggesting that we are already on stage 8 load-shedding.
“I’m here to present to the NWC some of the actions we are proposing to address the problem of loadshedding in the country.
I have noted some reporters that suggest that we on loadshedding Stage 8. Such information is not sitting well with me.”#ANCNWCinLimpopo#ANCRenewal https://t.co/IDWyWHoINu pic.twitter.com/D6tJtNelZE— African National Congress (@MYANC) April 17, 2023
“I want to say that such information is not sitting with me. I have been engaging Eskom. We had a meeting with the board, me and [public enterprises minister] Pravin Gordhan early last week with regard to the winter plan because we are anticipating that the demand is going to rise significantly from the now 30 000MW to up to 37 000MW.
“So from Eskom’s winter plan, which was presented before us, we are still on stage 6 and we will be engaging Eskom in relation to the grid performance.”
EWN reported that the minister of electricity was set to present his energy plan to Cabinet for approval.
Ramokgopa expressed optimism toward placing some much-needed light into the homes of South Africans.
“Especially as we transition into the winter, but I’m very confident about the prospects of addressing this load shedding beyond winter. But what is key to South Africans is what are the set of measures we are taking to relieve the people of this country.”
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Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
