ALBERTON -This was unplanned load shedding and necessitated by the collapse of a silo at Majuba power station. Tshediso Matona, CEO of Eskom, personally confirmed that load shedding was unavoidable, due to damage to the Majuba power station’s coal storage silo.
It seems that Eskom is just not getting it right. This incident exacerbated the current bad situation at Eskom, and it is very likely that load shedding will continue for the foreseeable future.
Load shedding does not just inconvenience us in our domestic lives, it adversely affects the economy and business lives. The hardest hit is the manufacturing enterprises in Ekurhuleni that give jobs to thousands of our residents.
Eskom has apologised to all electricity consumers, but this does not help for the many manufactures and small companies that are affected by the inconsistent electrical supply.
This affected me directly as I was in Washington DC attending high level specialised government finance training. My family was home alone without electricity and it was not a nice experience.
Although Eskom has warned South Africans to conserve electricity, using as little as possible, this did not prevent the blackout on Sunday and planned blackouts in the future. There is a high probability that load shedding will continue over the weeks to come.
The latest round of supply disruptions adversely affected businesses and homes, motorists and traffic flow and shopping centres all suffering the brunt of the problem.
Eskom further advised all residents should contribute equally to saving electricity while reducing excessive demand.
I would like to encourage Ekurhuleni residents to check when there will be planned power outages in their areas. Load shedding affects us all and load shedding will be tailored to encourage people to use energy more sparingly going forward.
Let’s bridge the gap because knowledge is power.
More information and load shedding schedules are available on Ekurhuleni.gov.za or Eskom.co.za or follow me on Twitter @neildiamond7 for regular updates.
