Eskom warns of possible winter load shedding
Eskom Board Chairperson Ben Ngubane blames new regulations when signing short term contracts, for possible load shedding during the coming cold months.
"Right now four stations stand at risk of load shedding, because we have not secured the millions of tons of stockpiles that we need when we go into Winter," says Ngubane.
Ngubane has warned Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) the new regulations could lead to a delay in finalising procurement of coal.
"Remember the terrible load shedding in 2008? This is what precipitated that board resolution of unsolicited bids. We have now eliminated that, but there's now the risk of load shedding again, because we are not getting the authorisation to buy more coal," says Ngubane.
The board was asked to appear before Scopa to answer to the PriceWaterHouseCoopers report into the coal supply agreements between Eskom and Tegeta.
The reports revealed several irregularities in the agreement between Eskom and the Gupta owned company.
Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown earlier told Scopa she has referred the agreement, along with other deals to the Special Investigating Unit.