Ramokgopa says there is a greater level of stability at Eskom

Minister of Electricity Kgosietsho Ramokgopa said there is a greater level of stability at Eskom since the release of the VGBE report and the appointment of new Eskom CEO Dan Marokane.

Ramokgopa was briefing the media on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan (EAP) on Monday.

National Treasury appointed the VGBE consortium to assess Eskom’s operations at its coal-fired power stations from March to May 2023.

VGBE report

The recommendations included analysis and forensic review of accounting methods and the way money is used, addressing design-related issues at the Medupi and Kusile power stations and advising each power station to have individualised and detailed recovery plans among others.

The minister said there are greater levels of stability and progress made since the report.

“There is greater levels of stability at Eskom now  that we have a more permanent appointment at apex level in the form of the CEO Dan Marokane and the leadership of the board under Dr Mtheto essentially trying to ensure that there is a consolidation first of these reports, their findings and recommendations.

“They are working on the more structured way of how best to respond to some of those issues. I must emphasise that already there is work that is being done in relation to responding to some of those issues and we are looking forward to a more structured approach on how we are responding to these issues,” Ramokgopa said.

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Grid performance

Speaking about the grid performance and load shedding, Ramokgopa said if planned maintenance was reduced by between 25-50% from September 2023 to February 2024, load shedding could have been completely averted.

“However, this would have left the system vulnerable and weaker going into the winter period and beyond.”

Ramokgopa said the performance of Eskom is easy to measure.

“You simply do an analysis, the amount of hours my lights are on or off compared to the same period the previous year and you’ll see without any shred of doubt there has been a significant improvement.

“The point is not just to reduce load shedding, the point is to ultimately get rid of load shedding,” Ramokgopa said.

He said he’s confident about the prospects going into the future which include the reduction of the intensity and regularity of load shedding with long-term plans in place.

Load shedding

Meanwhile, Eskom has suspended load shedding during the day for the coming week.

The parastatal’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, said the breaks in the power cuts are a result of the recovery of emergency reserves, the return of three generating units and the anticipated demand.

“Load shedding will remain suspended today (Sunday) until 16:00, when stage1 load shedding will resume until 05:00 on Monday. Thereafter, load shedding will be suspended again from 05:00 on Monday until 16:00, followed by stage 2 load shedding until 05:00 on Tuesday.”

Mokwena said the schedule will continue until further notice.

Mokwena added that a total of 3 330MW of generation capacity is expected to return to service by Wednesday.

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