Eskom anticipates load shedding to start in July

Eskom believes maintenance carried out over the past three weeks has placed the power utility in a good space to cope with demand post the lockdown.

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said although he could not guarantee that there will be no load shedding, the possibility of it a few weeks after lockdown was low.

“Of course all of this is dependent on the demand profile after the lockdown is lifted. There is, however, a moderate possibility of load shedding for a few days during July,” Mantshantsha said.

He said the lockdown bought Eskom time to undergo maintenance to bring stability to the power supply.

“Eskom has doubled its planned maintenance to an average 9 200MW since the lockdown, before that we were at 4 200MW planned maintenance. This is critical for short-term maintenance that we got the extra headroom due to the lower demand,” he said.

Mantshantsha said Eskom needed more time to fully recover its systems and ensure prolonged power stability.

“Maintenance is required to finally catch up on the original equipment. The manufacturer-prescribed maintenance regime will still take about 18 months to get over as we still needed to import components, and in some cases, specialist engineering skills from overseas.

“As you know, borders are closed and some equipment requires months of preparation before it can be on site. So we will still continue with the kind of maintenance once the lockdown is lifted,” he said.

Mantshantsha added that the power systems were coping well with the lower electricity demand even after regulations were eased allowing mines and fuel refineries to operate again on Friday.

Eskom also experienced a hike in the theft and vandalism of its electricity infrastructure which resulted in power supply interruptions.

“The theft and vandalism of the networks and equipment do not only result in outages that cause an inconvenience to the public, but also have a significantly negative impact on our operations and efforts to provide the much needed service to essential services and residents,” Motlhabane Ramashi, the senior manager for operations and maintenance, said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa directed Eskom heads to ensure that there should be no load shedding during the “stay-at-home” period, and eased regulations for coal mines supplying the power utility.

The national grid can expect a higher demand after lockdown, with mines, manufacturing companies and other businesses consuming a lot of electricity when operational.

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