Govt ‘working tirelessly’ to find load reduction solution, says Ramokgopa
Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said on Monday that his department is working tirelessly to find a long-term solution to the issue of load reduction.
Load reduction involves cutting power to areas where there is significant overloading due to illegal connections or other non-compliant behaviour.
Eskom resumed load reduction a few months ago, even though the system is stable enough for load shedding to remain suspended.
Eskom has implemented load reduction to protect its assets from repeated failures and explosions caused by network overloading.
“The one area that is now receiving attention is load reduction,” the minister told a media briefing on Monday.
“I don’t want to suggest to the country, and those who are affected by load reduction, that it is going to be an easy solve. But I am confident that we are closer to solving the issue.
“The number of households that are affected by load reduction is about 360,000 against the seven million households that Eskom is servicing, which is about 5%.
“But that 5% matters because it’s largely in poor areas. So, it’s important that we don’t create an impression that we only cater for those in affluent areas and neglect those in poor areas.”
Ramokgopa also highlighted municipal debt as one of the biggest challenges facing the power utility.
He said Eskom is owed R78 billion by municipalities across the country.
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