Cape Town -Eskom executives were on Monday locked in emergency meetings with President Cyril Ramaphosa, resulting in the postponement of a much-anticipated update on its system challenges amid ongoing Stage 6 load shedding.
Ramaphosa had cancelled his visit to Davos for the World Economic Forum summit.
It’s however unclear how cancelling the visit will change the bleak situation at Eskom.
Eskom and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan have been facing a backlash for not updating the public about the crisis that’s currently gripping the country.
“Unfortunately, Eskom has had to postpone this afternoon’s media briefing due to emergency engagements with the president.
“While we aim to hold the media briefing as soon as possible, the date and time can only be confirmed once meetings with the president are concluded,” Eskom said in a statement.
That was swiftly followed by a power alert that Stage 4 would be implemented from today as 14 generators were expected to return to service, followed by Stage 5 load shedding daily from 4pm to 5am.
Breakdowns currently amount to 16 173MW of generating capacity and there are currently 12 generators out on planned maintenance, representing 5 804MW of capacity.
Eskom procured an additional 50 million litres of diesel on January 6, which would be used to manage the pumped storage dam-levels and to limit the amount of load shedding during the day.
Together, these emergency generators contribute 5 700MW of capacity.
“Eskom cautions the public, however, that there is a high degree of uncertainty associated with this and that these changes will only be possible in their entirety, if the units return to service as planned,” its statement said.
“Changes in the stages of load shedding can therefore occur at short notice, due to the inherent unreliability of the coal power station fleet. A further update will be published as soon as any significant changes occur.”
Eskom has been at the centre of uproar in the country following its announcement of indefinite Stage 6 load shedding, “due to the severe capacity constraints”.
South African consumers were further angered as households face a steep rise in their energy bills from April 1, following the National Energy Regulator of SA’s (Nersa) approval of an electricity tariff increase of 18.65% for 2023/2024.
Nersa also approved a 12.74% increase for 2024/2025, effective from April 1 of next year. The power utility has also been under pressure to find a suitable replacement for outgoing Eskom CEO, André de Ruyter.
Researcher and policy analyst Nkosikhulule Nyembezi said the latest cancellation of an international trip by the president “will most likely worsen the situation, as global investors continue losing confidence in South Africa as an attractive investment destination”.
“The scale and damage of the body blow to South Africa are suddenly and shockingly real,” Nyembezi said.
He said the high increases meant “hardship for all and misery for millions. It is an insufferable event, and no decent society can allow it to happen”.
“The magnitude of the latest leap in prices is unwelcome but not unexpected.
It has been signalled for months by the power utility’s high usage of emergency generating capacity, specifically its diesel generators, a lack of efficiency at Eskom’s coal-fired generation fleet, and the rolling Stage 6 blackouts.
“The load-shedding forces South Africans to pay more for the power they do not receive, which is still a breathtaking threat to ordinary life.”
Following their meeting with Ramaphosa and other political parties to discuss the electricity crisis, the EFF has accused the president of “lying” in his assertions that the government was not solely responsible for the provision of electricity.
“This statement is not only objectionable, it is ludicrous and irresponsible because it is solely the ANC government that chose to appoint an incompetent chief executive and senior management at Eskom. All the boards and senior management at Eskom are appointed by the ANC government and overseen by an ANC minister,” the EFF said.
“We, as the EFF, reiterate that Ramaphosa must step down immediately and the people of South Africa must come up with a solution to the Eskom crisis. There are people in South Africa who have previously stopped load shedding and brought South Africa into energy stability,” the party said in a statement.
Cosatu said the main demand it would be submitting to the upcoming ANC lekgotla is for the appointment of a new permanent Eskom CEO by the end of March.
“The federation explicitly supported the resignation of Mr André de Ruyter last year, and we made it clear that we expect the government to appoint a new permanent CEO by the end of March, 2023.
“We do not want a repeat of the 2019 situation, where the late Jabu Mabuza (board chairperson) was also appointed as an acting CEO of Eskom Holdings, and acting group CEO of Eskom for three months.
This arrangement distorts the lines of accountability and undermines governance and management systems and protocols,” Cosatu said.
• Additional reporting Mashudu Sadike
Cape Times