Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said Eskom has for the past two weeks made significant and positive improvement in the generation capacity.
He said this is because of the work by the generation team, which has helped lessen load shedding. Ramokgopa was briefing the media in Pretoria about the country’s Energy Action Plan.
“We are not out of the woods, but we are turning the corner. The fact that we can go for a day, whether it’s a weekend or weekday, without load shedding is psychological. It is a major victory.”
We had not done that over a period of time. The available capacity is sustaining close to 60% of the EAF,” said Ramokgopa. He said he is confident that there is going to be a significant improvement in the energy situation going forward.
The Minister also highlighted that they’re using the opportunity of reduced demand to ensure that they continue to intensify planned maintenance.
Ramokgopa said the staggering bill of R64 billion owned by municipalities across the country, is having a significant risk on Eskom.
“This is undermining the liquidity of Eskom, because Eskom has to recover the cost associated with generation and the reticulation or distribution of electricity.
Once they’re not able to collect, this is a major hole in the Eskom revenue side. That undermines Eskom’s ability to invest in additional infrastructure to improve generation, transmission, infrastructure and distribution,” added Ramokgopa.
He however acknowledged that there are not able to pay their municipal debts. The Minister also condemned illegal connections, highlighting that they cost the entity billions of rands annually, placing a significant amount of strain on the infrastructure.
