‘It is a good time for load shedding’

A dark new year is in sight for South Africans after Eskom announced Stage 2 load shedding, hours after the country was placed into an adjusted Level 3 lockdown as infections continue to climb past the million mark.

On Tuesday, the power utility announced Stage 2 load shedding would be implemented from 10pm until 5am on Wednesday and again last night.

Eskom said in a press release the load shedding was necessary to preserve emergency generation reserves to prepare for higher demand expected during January as economic activity resumes.

“We currently have 9745MW on planned maintenance, while another 11,346MW capacity is unavailable due to unplanned maintenance. Eskom teams are working around the clock to return as many of these units to service as soon as possible.”

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha told The Citizen Eskom had previously communicated on numerous occasions the risk of load shedding remained high for the period to September 2021.

“Whereafter it will be significantly reduced as much of the reliability maintenance will have been completed,” Mantshantsha said.

Eskom would keep updating the public timeously should the need arise at any point.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said it was currently in a process of renegotiating the extension of the contract with Kelvin power station with an intention to redevelop with environmentally friendly solutions and reduce over-reliance on Eskom.

“City Power gets 10% of its electricity from Kelvin,” he said.

However, City Power had no control over load shedding.

“Load shedding is implemented by Eskom as a necessary last resort to protect the system from a total collapse.”

Mangena said City Power, as was the case with other municipalities, implemented load shedding at Eskom’s request.

“We always strive to ensure that there is minimal inconvenience to our customers and as part of our long-term strategy, we are exploring the possibilities of working with private producers to reduce the over-reliance on Eskom.”

Economist Mike Schussler said it was fortunate load shedding was announced when most industries were not working as manufacturers had closed down for the holiday season.

“Load shedding at night has a limited impact,” Schussler said.

Should load shedding be implemented during the day, Schussler said it would have a far greater impact on the retail and tourism industries, which have already taken a knock following the implementation of the Level 3 lockdown on Monday night.

“Areas in coastal towns and cities already have fewer tourists visiting and with load shedding they lose even more. It’s a double whammy,” Schussler said.

“During Christmas and New Year, everything comes to a standstill except for the tourism and retail industry.”

He said the tourism industry was already under strain while the construction, mining, steel and manufacturing industries were not feeling the current load shedding.

“The current load shedding has the least impact and would have been felt much harder if implemented on 15 January.”

Rob Hutchinson, managing director of DearSA, said Eskom normally implemented planned maintenance during a low power consumption period, which was traditionally over the festive season.

“Over the festive season, it becomes no-man’s land and everyone is on a go-slow, so it makes sense to scheduled the maintenance over this period.”

Hutchinson said this would prevent further load shedding in the new year, when people resumed working.

“I think it is a good time for load shedding,” said Schussler. “It might be an inconvenience for us now.”

If load shedding carried on next week and into the new year when businesses reopened, it would have a bigger impact on the economy.

marizkac@citizen.co.za

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