Energy expert Ted Blom accuses Eskom of lying about load shedding

“[Eskom’s] shortfall is far larger than level 2 load shedding, but they are not being honest again.”

This is what energy expert Ted Blom said on Wednesday when asked about the load shedding numbers.

South Africa has been weathering stage 2 load shedding since last week and Eskom said it would be in place until Thursday. Blom, however, accused the power utility of lying about the severity of the load shedding programme.

“Seems to me Eskom is ducking and diving again, and being sparse with the truth,” he added.

‘Situation is worse than last week’

When asked if he thought load shedding would continue over the weekend, Blom had bleak news for South Africans.

“The situation is worse than last week when load shedding was introduced. I expect it to continue for at least balance of this week,” he said.

Extended blackouts

These claims from Blom come after complaints have flooded in from residents in Johannesburg. They are reporting load shedding periods are much longer than they should be under stage 2.

Blom said he was getting reports of extended blackouts as well as transformer damage occurring faster than technicians could repair it.

ALSO READ: SA could have load shedding for next five years, warns energy expert

On Monday, Blom told Jacaranda FM that South Africans should prepare to have load shedding for the next five years due to the lack of maintenance at Eskom’s generating units. He said the problematic generating units were being patched, rather than completely repaired. 

Eskom last week said the latest round of load shedding was because of the breakdown of three generators, a lack of diesel to run the rest, conveyer belt failures and boiler tube leaks.

A fire at the Kendal power station in Mpumalanga in September also took out three units, one of which would only be back in November.

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Additional reporting by Nica Richards