Cape Town - While Eskom will continue plunging the country into stage 6 load shedding until later in the week, outgoing CEO Andre de Ruyter could not provide a clear answer about the amount spent on diesel to keep the lights on.
“We continue to consume diesel as we go. We have obtained the support of the National Treasury to give assurance to banks from whom we borrow to buy diesel that the National Treasury will stand behind these loans.
“That has given us the ability to ease the liquidity constraints and we can continue to purchase diesel,” he said.
He said stage 6 load shedding would prevail until Wednesday evening peak.
“By Thursday we will be able to start phasing it down to load shedding stage 4 and load shedding stage 3 by the weekend,” De Ruyter said.
He said Eskom was 3 766 megawatts out on planned maintenance and full losses of 12 318MW, which was “an extremely huge number”.
They also have partial losses at 5 993MW and outside capacity loss factor (OCLF) related to supply of coal at Lethabo power plant with units supplying 2 100MW being out.
De Ruyter said the shortfall in generation capacity has become urgent.
“We are intending to return some units to service. We are looking at Lethabo unit 4, 5 and 2, and also a unit at Camden. We are looking at returning by the end of today (Monday) 3 000MW, followed by 6 000MW, followed by a further 2 000MW each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That will significantly alleviate the current constraints that we face in terms of generation capacity.”
De Ruyter’s comments come as calls continue to mount for Finance Minister Enoch Godngwana to take decisive action and incentivise alternative energy sources at a household level ahead of his Budget speech on Thursday.
The DA said incentivising rooftop solar technology use by households and businesses could help mitigate the impact of the ongoing blackouts.
The opposition party said while it may not resolve the significant power capacity shortage, it could provide the much-needed relief to households.
“The DA has put forward a proposal for an emergency solar rebate programme to incentivise the installation of solar systems at residential properties.
“The programme, for the duration of three years, aims to address the current energy crisis,” said DA spokesperson for finance Dion George during a briefing on Monday.
George said there should be tax rebates in the form of a 100% deduction for the cost of installing solar equipment along with other items that incentivise independence from Eskom kept at R100 000.
“Participants will finance the upfront cost of installation and claim the deduction against taxable income during submission of annual returns.”
He also said his party would not support expenditure related to the formation of a new ministry of electricity and expenditure resulting from the national state of disaster around Eskom.
“Having a minister of electricity, which will cost a fortune for a ministry, will not fix the problem. It is just kicking a broken can down the road.”
Labour federation Cosatu said Godongwana’s speech should move away from ineffectual and failing budget cuts that served to suffocate and squeeze an already struggling economy.
Spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said Cosatu hoped that the government would rise to the occasion and table a decisive and bold budget that would spur an economy struggling to emerge from a devastating recession and global pandemic.
“It should offer meaningful relief to the poor and unemployed and include a package of measures to reduce and end load shedding.”
Pamla welcomed the declaration of a state of disaster to tackle the nation’s electricity crisis, saying: “This needs to be accompanied by the necessary support to enable Eskom to reduce and end load shedding over the next six months.
This includes a debt relief package that relieves Eskom of up to two-thirds of its debt burden.”
Pamla warned that the government should understand that society’s patience was not infinite.
“People expect results and will be judging the government over the next few months and rendering the verdict in the 2024 elections.”
Cape Times