It had been 10 months of “uninterrupted electricity supply”, when Eskom last week suddenly said it “encountered a temporary setback” necessitating a weekend of load shedding. FILE
ESKOM has to come clean on the real reasons for the recent load shedding, says one energy expert with hopes that president Cyril Ramaphosa will shed light on the issue in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday.
“What concerns me is that they are vague about the root cause of the recent outage,” said Hugo Kruger adding that it was not clear to say at this stage if load shedding was back.
It had been 10 months of “uninterrupted electricity supply”, when Eskom last week suddenly said it “encountered a temporary setback” necessitating a weekend of load shedding.
In his last Sona, Ramaphosa said: “We set out a clear plan to end load shedding, which we have been implementing with a single-minded focus through the National Energy Crisis Committee. We have delivered on our commitments to bring substantial new power through private investment to the grid, which is already helping to reduce load shedding. We are confident that the worst is behind us and the end of load shedding is finally within reach.”
Eskom did not respond to requests for comment on the load shedding outlook.
The recent power cuts were the first under the Government of National Unity (GNU). Parties in the GNU, including the DA had campaigned on a ticket of ending load shedding when they became part of the national government.
DA spokesperson on energy, Kevin Mileham said: “The fact that we have had more than 300 days without load shedding indicates that progress is being made. Some of the interventions that the DA has been calling for for many years are now starting to take shape and be implemented. These include a rapid expansion and roll-out of the REIPPP programme, more frequent updates to the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and Integrated Energy Plan (IEP), and a comprehensive review of the Electricity Pricing Policy.”
Political analyst, professor Sipho Seepe said the recent load shedding had “messed up” an opportunity for Ramaphosa to boast that it was a thing of the past.
“He could still argue that the country has turned the corner. Opposition parties would do well to remind him that load shedding was a self-created crisis. Load shedding came back when Ramaphosa assumed the presidency. As far as SONA is concerned, we should expect more of the same promises,” he said.
Policy analyst and researcher Nkosikhulule Nyembezi said it remains unclear what would satisfy politicians enough to repeal the threat of further severe electricity blackouts.
“While there has been little cause to worry about the recent power blackouts because of the responsible manner in which the government and Eskom handled them, reliance on Eskom power is gone. In its place looms the prospect of continuous migration from the national electricity grid to alternative sources by businesses and affluent households. The losers are poor households resorting to unsafe energy sources because they cannot withstand the economic pain that the government, Nersa and Eskom inflict.”
Cape Times
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