Load shedding: Ramaphosa calls for action and urgency in dealing with Eskom crisis

President Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated that resolving the Eskom energy crisis and putting an end to load shedding is one of the most immediate and pressing tasks of the African National Congress (ANC).

Ramaphosa was delivering the opening remarks at the ANC NEC Lekgotla at the Esselenpark Conference Centre in Gauteng on Sunday.

The presidents remarks on the deliberate power cuts follows a period of load shedding which was escalated to stage 6 due to a high number of breakdowns across Eskom’s generation fleet.

Households and businesses are suffering under the devastating impact of the blackouts with angry and frustrated South Africans calling on Ramaphosa to find a solution to the crisis.

End load shedding

Ramaphosa admitted that the electricity crisis continued to undermine economic growth and investment and that load shedding must end.

“Load-shedding damages businesses, disrupt households, compromises the provision of social services and affects the safety and well-being of the people. Load shedding also has a negative impact on food production.”

“We must accelerate the work underway to end load-shedding,” he said.

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Energy action plan

Ramaphosa added the National Energy Crisis Committee and Eskom led briefings to update stakeholders on progress made in implementing the July 2022 Energy Action Plan and outline the work currently underway to accelerate this work.

“We have signed agreements with independent power producers for 26 renewable energy projects, which together will generate around 2,800 MW. An additional 300 MW has been imported through the Southern African Power Pool, and negotiations are underway to secure a potential 1,000 MW from neighbouring countries.”

“Eskom has also launched a programme to purchase up to 1,000 MW of power from companies with existing generation capacity,” he said

This Lekgotla needs a focused and in-depth discussion on how we can accelerate implementation of the #EnergyActionPlan and what additional measures we need to take in the immediate term to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding.https://t.co/3jSAttqSoi

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) January 29, 2023

Independent experts

Ramaphosa said a team of independent experts has been established to work closely with Eskom to diagnose the problems and take action to improve plant performance, particularly at the six power stations with the most breakdowns.

“These interventions will take some time to have an effect and we must be honest with the people that load shedding in one form or another will be with us for some time.

“Our objective is to lower the stages of loadshedding to the lower levels whilst we address the overall challenge of ensuring security of energy supply,” he said.

Ramaphosa also said government is not planning on closing down coal-fired power stations in exchange for renewable sources of power.

Pay for electricity usage

Ramaphosa explained that, in addition to the historical reasons for load shedding, another factor contributing to the current levels of load shedding is Eskom’s effort to correct the mistakes of the past.

Ramaphosa said the ANC also needed to play a role in popularising campaigns to reduce usage and electricity theft and to promote a culture of payment for power.

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