- Nearly a billion Rand is lost every day that high levels of loadshedding are implemented.
- Every day South Africa loses between R204 million and R899 million due to loadshedding, according to the SARB.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce further measures to address loadshedding at the State of the Nation Address on Thursday.
Loadshedding every day for the next two years. This is what Eskom told the public regarding its efforts to put an end to the rolling power cuts which were once considered an irritant and are now a full-blown crisis.
South Africans are currently dealing with Stage 4 loadshedding, which is set to decrease to Stage 3 on Wednesday. This means that areas across the country, the people living there and the businesses they operate will be without power for four hours of the day in two-hour rotations.
Much has been said about the burden that the blackouts put on the already strained economy of South Africa, but on Monday the South African Reserve Bank put a number to the daily toll.
According to Bloomberg, which received information from the central bank, every day that loadshedding lingers, the country loses an estimated amount between R204 million and R899 million, depending on whether it is Stage 3 or Stage 6.
Due to the endless nature of the blackouts, the Reserve Bank has lowered its economic growth forecast this year from 1.1 percent to measley 0.3 percent. Loadshedding alone has removed 2 percentage points from the already-flimsy growth outlook, says SARB governer Lesetja Kganyago.
Further, the SARB predicts that this year will see the record for the most days of power cuts in the country’s history.
Meanwhile, Eskom, which is still looking for a new CEO, says it is working towards improving its generation capacity, with a deadline set for 2025 for a 70 percent improvement.
It is running a new, “10 key point” action plan that will see the hiring of more skilled workers, increased maintenance at the utility’s best stations, allowing more private power easier access to the grid and the construction of new generating units.
If the utility manages to increase its generation capacity by just 4 000MW to 6 000MW, loadshedding will finally end, Eskom has repeated.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to outline new measures to combat loadshedding at the State of the Nation Address to be held on Thurday this week. Some are expecting the president to use the deteriorating state of Eskom and the crisis around loadshedding as causes for calling a National State of Disaster.
