Is Eskom lying about the load shedding stages?

Cold and dark is the forecast for winter and Eskom’s rolling blackouts appear set to continue.

But the power utility has denied claims that it has been lying about the current stage 2 load shedding.

The claim, from energy expert Ted Blom, was based on multiple accounts from residents of Johannesburg and elsewhere that their power had gone off longer and more frequently than expected.

Blom told Saturday Citizen he received about 50 replies from people from all over the country claiming they experienced four to six hours of load shedding a day despite the stage 2 alert.

ALSO READ: Stage 2 load shedding to resume until Sunday

The complaints stretched from as far as Sandton to Delmas and the Eastern and Western Cape.

“Eskom was going to overhaul the 80 odd generator sets or boilers in 18 months,” he explained.

Blom said it was unrealistic from the start because such a project would take up to five years and R600 billion to complete.

“I have been told by contacts that there has been no overhaul as yet just ‘spoeg en plak [spit and paste]’. So they are just patching up,” Blom said.

Eskom spokesman Sikonathi Mantshantsha refuted Blom’s allegations and said load shedding at stage 2 had been implemented all week. “We are not at stage 4. We are implementing stage 2,” he said.

Mantshantsha said Blom was looking for attention.

On Friday, the power utility announced it was suspending load shedding from noon until 5pm to allow parliament to pass a number of appropriation Bills as most MPs attend the National Assembly via online meeting facilities and were scattered all over the country, hence the national suspension of the blackouts.

ALSO READ: Ekurhuleni load shedding: Find the updated schedules here

Political analyst Ongama Mtimka said management at Eskom was failing to show positive momentum from whatever efforts they were making.

“What is concerning is the fact that we getting a sense that things are not improving,” Mtimka said.

He said this was going to seriously dampen the confidence in the South African economy, especially in terms of energy investments.

“It is one thing to have load shedding regularly but it is another to have a mood of despair in general, with no general sense that management has a plan,” Mtimka said.

Economist Mike Schussler said he thought the country was going to see a lot more load shedding in winter compared to the previous year.

Schussler said although the economic growth in the first quarter of the year was positive and April was also a good month, growth would be smaller in the second quarter of the financial year due to load shedding.

“The problem is once load shedding gets going, it is going to affect the economy very negatively. Chances are, we might see another shrinkage in the economy in the third quarter of the year,” he said.

Schussler said for every kilowatt-hour lost to load shedding, the economy lost R17.

“The fact of the matter is if you have stage 2 load shedding, it means for every hour it’s R34 million that you lose,” he said.

Schussler said the economy could probably recover quickly the R34 million that was lost if load shedding was for a few hours. “But if you have load shedding for a few weeks then you start feeling the pain. And I think that’s where we are heading to now,” Schussler said.

marizkac@citizen.co.za