Eskom ‘sorry’ for 43 days of load shedding
Eskom has once again apologised to South Africans for implementing load shedding, with the utility saying it has no choice but to cut power.
This comes as Stage 2 load shedding was extended from last week until at least Wednesday.
The power utility's management briefed the media on Monday.
"Every day you experience load shedding is unacceptable and that we appreciate and apologise to the country for,” said the company's CEO Jan Oberholzer.
“But we are on this road to fix our plants and we will not deviate from that, so we will continue to take units off and maintain them properly the way it is necessary and required.
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Oberholzer said South Africa has had 43 days of load shedding compared to 46 days in the same period last year.
CEO Andre de Ruyter said Eskom will experience power supply shortages for the next five years.
"We have to reiterate that there will be a shortfall in the supply of electricity of approximately 4 000 megawatts over the next five years, as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his State of the Nation address. We welcome the announcement by the president which will include the request for proposal for 2 600 megawatts from wind and solar energy.”
Oberholzer said not implementing load shedding will increase the risk of a total blackout and people sitting in the dark for days on end.
He said this is something they are working hard to avoid.
On municipal debt
De Ruyter said a partnership plan is its final stages to assist Eskom recover its funds from municipalities.
As of January 2021 municipalities owe Eskom R35.2 billion.
“Under the guidance of the deputy president we have conducted various deliberations with stake holders over the next few months and a partnership model between struggling municipalities and Eskom is in the final stages of being developed.
“This is known as active partnering and will involve Eskom assisting those municipalities to operate their distribution network, install prepaid meters, assist in revenue collection and also carry out much needed maintainable.”
