WITH colder weather slowly settling in, South Africans should anticipate not more than Stage 1 load shedding up until the end of August, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.
Gordhan apologised to the country, including businesses, for the impact of the recent spate of load shedding incidents.
“We have as our aim that there should be no load shedding from here onwards, but that is an aim, to get to that aim we must execute our plans at 110 per cent. If there is load shedding at the most you will see Stage 1 load shedding between now and at least the end of August,” said the Minister.
Arising from work done in Eskom, Gordhan said the Technical Review Team has made preliminary observations. The team, which he appointed, began its work in mid-March and is yet to complete its work.
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“We can demonstrate that we have a winter plan,” he said, adding that the utility considers the winter period to start on 1 May. Essentially the month of May is used to plan what needs to happen between June and the end of August which is the key winter period,” he said.
The plan includes the management of outages to ensure that the maximum amount of Megawatts are available on the grid.
While there is plan in place, said the Minister, its implementation will depend on discipline.
“An important culture change needs to happen in Eskom where increased levels of accountability and consequence management will be key,” he said.
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Speaking on the utility’s objectives for the rest of the year, Gordhan highlighted the importance of being transparent and frank with South Africans. “We are very apologetic for where we find ourselves,” he said, adding that he believes there is now a clear road map for the future both in the short and medium term.
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