‘No load shedding during lockdown’ says Eksom

Eskom has shut down news reports that South Africans would be suffering load shedding from May until August next year.

This after the Sunday Times reported that Eskom’s head of power generation, Bheki Nxumalo, told the newspaper that power cuts would “most likely” resume once the national lockdown ends on 30 April.

These outages would then continue until August 2021.

In addition, it said Eskom has battled to secure vital components while the global lockdown have also prevented it from bringing in specialised engineers to work on the equipment.

But on Monday, the power utility said the lockdown has assisted it to generate more power and to fend off the possibility of immediate load shedding.

This as many big businesses - especially mines and similar industries which consume a lot of electricity - were forced to shut or lower their operations during lockdown.

When President Cyril Ramaphosa initially announced the 21-day lockdown on 23 March, he said only coal mines which supplied Eskom would operate to full capacity but the rest of the gold, diamond and iron ore mines were not deemed essential.

Trains - which consumed a lot of electricity - were also suspended while big retailers in the food industry were also forced to close.

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said they took the opportunity to conduct critical short-term maintenance.

“Even though Eskom expects demand to rise significantly immediately after the lockdown to more or less the same levels ahead of the lockdown, which will put pressure on the infrastructure during the first few weeks after the lockdown is lifted, we hope to be able to avoid load shedding.

“There is, however, a modest risk of Stage 1 load shedding for a few days during July,” he said.

African News Agency

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