Latest power cuts ‘short-term pain for long-term gain’

Briefing the media on the planned power cuts on Wednesday morning, the minister emphasised that while the disruptions may be inconvenient, they are necessary to improve long-term energy reliability.

“The country will experience short-term pain for long-term gain,” he explained.

Stage 2 load shedding began on Tuesday and will run daily from 4 pm to 10 pm until Thursday. The cuts were triggered by breakdowns and delays in bringing generation units back online.

Ramokgopa assured weary South Africans that the country is heading into winter in a stronger position than last year when it comes to electricity generation. 

He confirmed that previous winter supply projections remain unchanged.

He reported progress at Koeberg, where Unit 2 has been successfully synchronised to the grid, helping to boost available capacity. Although Unit 1 is still offline, it is expected to return by July, just as demand peaks.

Additional generation units have also come online at Kusile, improving overall grid stability.

“We have successfully synchronised Kusile Unit number six to the grid on the 26th of March, so that’s an additional capacity that we have on the grid, approximately 800 megawatts, and we didn’t have the benefits of these 800 megawatts when we entered the winter of 2024,” Ramokgopa said.

He added that Eskom will reassess the current energy outlook and provide an update on Thursday.

The minister also touched on the R252 billion allocated by the Treasury to support the energy sector over the next three years.

“The significant proportion of that, we have invested it in the replenishing and refurbishing of our generation units so that we can have the benefits of uninterrupted power supply,” he said.

Meanwhile, Eskom CEO Dan Marokane confirmed that the utility will continue using its diesel-powered peaking plants — known as "pickers" — to manage Stage 2 load shedding during high-demand periods.

He explained that the pickers are only used from 4 pm to 10 pm, when electricity demand exceeds supply. Outside those hours, Eskom has sufficient generation capacity to meet demand.

Marokane dismissed the idea that using pickers is a cost-saving measure, saying their use is part of Eskom’s planned operations. 

He acknowledged, however, that diesel use carries financial implications.

“When we look at the last period, we have seen significant savings in the diesel cost. What’s happening now in the last three weeks and four weeks may come out as higher consumption than the previous period, but it does not necessarily follow that we can extrapolate that information and say that’s going to be the case for the rest of the year,” he said.

Marokane also addressed Eskom’s loss of skilled personnel and said the utility is intensifying its skills upliftment programme as part of its broader recovery plan.

He explained that Eskom is working with key stakeholders, including Original Equipment Manufacturers, to tackle the loss of professionals with expertise in engineering, plant operations, and maintenance.

Eskom is rolling out initiatives to retain current employees, attract new talent, and build internal capacity, though Marokane admitted that restoring lost institutional knowledge will take time.

“What we need to solve is the totality of skill pool for the country and we start off by working around our sides and start by understanding with what we need and preparing to support the projects that we have with the right skillsets, and we think we will be able to solve this because there is willingness on both sides,” he said.

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