Eskom has expressed hope that the recently gazetted regulations governing the national state of disaster on energy will enable the power utility to fast-track the end of load shedding.
Eskom acting CEO Calib Cassim said on Friday that the regulations, combined with the debt-relief programme, will release funds for critical spares needed to fix generation units much quicker than normal.
Last month, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that Eskom will not be spending capital on any greenfield projects for the next three years but will focus on maintenance of the existing generation fleet.
This forms part of the conditions attached to the R254 billion debt relief intervention provided by the government in a bid to turn the tide on the utility’s financial position.
“That decision by the minister of finance that Eskom doesn’t have to borrow for the next three years importantly allows Eskom now to release capex (capital expenditure) funds three years in advance, not only for generation but for transmission and distribution,” Cassim said.
“Which means the long-lead spares that (acting head) Thomas Conradie in generation needs to procure the resources that he needs to ensure he delivers on (his mandate), are fulfilling the actual outage requirements.”
Cassim said that as a result, Eskom will have no excuses now to not lessen the severity of power cuts since it would have enough resources to maintain its plants.
“Plus the flexibility that we now have, within the governance rules, there should be no excuses from an Eskom perspective and a generation perspective why we should not see load shedding starting to be reduced going forward,” he said.
“We must not accept stage 6 [load shedding]. We need these stages to come down.”
Cassim was speaking during a media briefing also addressed by various government ministers about the regulations in response to severe electricity supply constraints.
Eskom continues to experience several operational challenges that have inevitably affected the efficiency of power stations and ultimately the capacity to provide an uninterrupted supply of electricity.
While addressing these challenges, the power utility has been implementing load shedding at escalating stages, up to stage 6, in a bid to protect the national grid from a national blackout, the consequences of which would be catastrophic.
Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said the gazetted regulations will provide the government with “the extraordinary measures required to deal with our energy constraints”.
Gungubele acknowledged the social and economic impact that the current electricity challenges are having on the country.
“The national state of disaster emphasises our determination to support and work with all South Africans and sectors of society negatively affected by the severe electricity supply,” he said.
“We work hard and understand the plight of all those who have been affected by the devastation of the power outages.
“We appreciate the co-operation from all sectors and society at large as we respond to this disaster. In this way, we can all ensure efforts that yield to the end of load shedding.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said the impact of load shedding had led to economic and social damage, public health and safety threats, as well as hindrances to basic service delivery.
Dlamini Zuma said an initial analysis by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) indicated that cities were incurring an overall average loss of income of between R3 million and R6 million per stage of load shedding every day.
“This is substantially high, unsustainable and unaffordable. Working with Salga, we will be conducting an assessment of the impact of load shedding on municipal services, electrical infrastructure, and finances,” she said.
“It is our hope that we will work together with all stakeholders to resolve this crisis and to further call on all South Africans in all sectors of the economy and our communities to help end load shedding by conserving energy, adopting energy-efficient practices, and supporting renewable energy initiatives.”
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