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Eskom provided some festive season cheer on Friday when it announced that load shedding will remain suspended until Friday, 29 December 2023.
The parastatal said it was able to do this due to “consistent improvement in available generation capacity, the lower demand, as well as sufficient emergency reserves”.
“Load shedding will remain suspended until next week Friday at 4pm,” it said. “Eskom will closely monitor the power system and communicate should any significant changes occur.”
On Sunday, Eskom said the power cuts would be suspended to Friday, 22 December. This has now been extended by another week.
On Thursday, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said Eskom has been able to suspend load shedding due to the maintenance on Eskom’s generating units.
Ramokgopa said Eskom was taking advantage of the lower demand in the festive season to ramp up maintenance of its generating units.
“It is important that during this period of low demand, we are able to take this opportunity to ensure we accelerate maintenance. What has been our experience is that when the units have gone out on planned maintenance [and] when they return on average, they continue to perform and remain on load,” he said.
The electricity minister said Eskom’s maintenance programme over the last few weeks has led to South Africa’s electricity system being “healthy”.
“We are going to benefit exceptionally well as a country for us to continue on this path of planned maintenance.”
Municipal debt to Eskom, however, remains a concern.
Eskom’s interim results for the period ending 30 September 2023 revealed that municipal debt has increased to R70 billion, from R58.5 billion in March.
“Eskom continues to make efforts to address the arrear debt, however, these have not yielded the desired outcome as the debt continues to escalate,” the parastatal said.
Fifty-two municipalities have received approval or conditional approval from National Treasury to participate in the municipal debt relief programme. This makes up 86% of the total municipal arrear debt balance as at 31 March 2023.
ALSO READ: Municipalities’ Eskom debt escalates to R70 billion
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