Acting Eskom boss warns of stage 6 through winter
Eskom's acting group chief executive Callib Cassim has warned South Africans to brace themselves for an even darker winter compared to last year.
This as the utility struggles to provide reliable electricity for all South Africans.
Cassim addressed power and energy professionals from across the globe at the energy conference on Tuesday.
The three-day event is hosted by Enlit Africa at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
He said the utility has less capacity compared to the same time last year, which means load shedding will likely remain at stage 6 throughout the winter period.
"If we start off we were a year ago during winter, we had three units of Kusile operating, which no longer are available during this winter, that equates to 2,000MW.
"We also had last year this time both units of Koeberg operating, that's another 900 MW that's not available to Eskom as we embark on this winter.
"So we are really starting the winter on the back foot of minus 3000MW, which makes it really difficult," says Cassim.
He acknowledged that it is going to be a tough winter for South Africans.
"But what's most important is, we must acknowledge Eskom's shortcomings as well.
"We all agree in Eskom, for now, the most important thing is assisting generation to manage the winter to the best of our ability.
"The reality is, it's gonna be tough, if we can keep the peak at stage 6 or lower, or during off-peak at stage 4 I think we gonna have a successful winter."
He says there will be a some relief in December as Kusile units are expected back online amounting to at least 2000MW.'
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