Johannesburg - Minister of Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the current Stage 6 load shedding the country is experiencing is due to power utility Eskom’s failure to adhere to its planned maintenance schedule.
Ramokgopa provided an update on the performance of the electricity grid yesterday as the country plunged into Stage 6 load shedding, which the power utility said would last until the end of this week.
He said the intensified blackouts were partly because Eskom had to start maintenance on the long-neglected units.
Ramokgopa said Eskom hoped to minimise the impact of load shedding before planned maintenance and the loss of two generation units, which has constrained the system, resulting in Stage 6 load shedding from yesterday morning.
“We’ve taken a view that part of the reason why we are where we are is the deterioration of the generation of maintenance; we have not been sticking to the philosophy of maintenance, and that also had to do with the fact that Eskom’s balance sheet was severely compromised. There were a few resources to invest on the maintenance side, and what had been happening over a period was that the units may have been exploited without the necessary maintenance plan, philosophy and maintenance, and that caught up with us, and that’s why we are in the situation where we find ourselves.”
He said with the fiscal relief provided for by the National Treasury, R254 billion of fiscal support was given to Eskom.
The Star