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Eskom: The lights will remain on for summer and winter 2016

Eskom Chief Executive Officer Brian Molefe has said that there will be no load shedding for the remainder of the summer season or during the colder winter months.

The CEO made the statement at an Eskom System Status Update being held at Megawatt Park. Molefe went on to say that with the exception of two hours in September, the utility had kept the lights on for six consecutive months even while maintenance was under way.

This, Molefe said, was thanks in part to the Tetris maintenance planning tool which has given the utility the ability to maintain the grid without having to resort to loadshedding.

Further to this unplanned maintenance fell from 17.69% in Q3 2014 to 15.57% in Q3 2015. The utility also went on to say that load losses had been reduced from 3GW to 1.65GW in December 2015.

“We appreciate the support of our customers as we continue with plans to do maintenance without load shedding,” Molefe said in a tweet.

The lights maybe on but a dark cloud gathers over Megawatt park

An online petition launched recently to try and convince the National Energy Regulator of South Africa not to grant Eskom an additional 8.6% tariff hike on top of the 8% which has already been granted.

The utility approached the regulator in a bid to recuperate lost revenue through a tariff increase. The largest portion of the R22.8 billion Eskom wants to recuperate comes from lower than expected sales. Eskom has stated that it lost as much as R11 billion because customers were using less electricity.

While it is not clear whether the increase will be granted, Nersa member for electricity, Thembani Bukula has said that part of the 86% hike may be granted.

Perhaps instituting our own loadshedding just to save some money if the rate hike is granted will become popular.

[Source – Eskom via Twitter] [Image CC by 2.0 – Danielle Elder]

 

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