Some respite from load shedding expected this weekend

Eskom has promised some relief from the extreme load shedding it’s been imposing on South Africans over the past two weeks.

The state-owned utility, in its first update on the power crisis since Monday, said it that stage-4 load shedding will continue until 5am on Saturday, after which it should be downgraded to stage 3.

Stage 4 will then return for the evening peak on Saturday and overnight until 5am on Sunday, when stage-2 cuts will be implemented.

A full statement will be published on Sunday, Eskom said.

The reduction in load shedding this weekend comes after an intense week of discussions involving Eskom management, President Cyril Ramaphosa and members of the cabinet.

Eskom had promised to hold a press conference on Monday to update South Africans on the deterioration in the energy supply situation, but that was postponed indefinitely due to the engagements with the president.

Meanwhile, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) on Friday called for energy minister Gwede Mantashe to be removed from his portfolio over his alleged mishandling of South Africa’s energy crisis.

It warned that Mantashe was using the “self-inflicted” crisis to justify signing an “unaffordable” supply deal with Turkey’s Karpowership for floating gas-fired power plants. Mantashe has again in recent days punted the Karpowerships as a solution to South Africa’s energy woes.

‘Massive bill’

“Although emergency power in a crisis seems very attractive, the dynamics of plugging Karpowership into our grid are much more complicated than simply flipping the switch,” Outa said.

“The Karpowership environmental impact assessment study has already failed once, when it was rejected by the department of forestry, fisheries & the environment, and civil society is taking the National Energy Regulator and the Karpowerships to court as we believe the generation licences should not have been issued.

“Not only will it take months to start with generation even if a hypothetical deal were to be signed tomorrow, but the economy and consumer will have to foot a massive bill, either through future heightened tariffs or tax.

Read: The terrible toll of load shedding on SA’s mobile networks

“It is true that technology as utilised by Karpowership can alleviate an energy crisis and bring a country back on its feet, but this is a short-term solution only. Our government aims to sign a 20-year deal, to the detriment of the economy and electricity tariffs to come. This is like filling a bucket with a hole in it for the sake of keeping the bucket full, without plugging the hole,” Outa said.  – © 2023 NewsCentral Media

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