Cape Town – Eskom has clarified how the suspension of load shedding works following accusations it only suspends the blackouts on select religious holidays.
According to TimesLIVE, some members of the Muslim community expressed their dismay with Eskom for implementing load shedding during the month of Ramadan and Eid.
The report said the group accused the power utility of only suspending load shedding over Christian holidays including Christmas and Easter.
However, Eskom maintained that there was no favouritism in load shedding.
“Christmas was on a Sunday, as well as in the December holiday period. This, in general, sees lower demand on the grid and Eskom could manage the demand and grid constraints on that day,” it said.
“Ramadan is over a Lunar month [29-30 days] and during the time of year when industry operates as usual, the demand on the grid is already constrained,” the report quoted Eskom as saying
The power utility continued: “There are no specified areas that can be ring-fenced as purely observing Ramadan. Most households are embedded in the network with other customers [so] to exempt the country from load-shedding for this period cannot realistically be considered.”
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Over the Easter weekend, Eskom announced that it had suspended load shedding because of reduced demand.
On Sunday and Monday, load shedding continued to be suspended.
Meanwhile, Electricity Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has warned of a dark and cold winter if Eskom’s grid remains constrained.
According to EWN, the minister said that Eskom needed at least 66 000MW to bridge the gap between demand and supply; however, efforts were being made to avoid a “worst-case scenario” by ensuring that the power outages did not surpass stage 6.
“We are doing everything possible that we don’t go beyond stage six. If there’s any changes to that, we will communicate it,” he said.
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
