The reprieve from Eskom – that there will be no loadshedding this week – is short-lived, as the power utility is expected to continue with rolling blackouts for the rest of the year. According to Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha, the public will be informed of changes to the loadshedding schedule. “Eskom is pleased to inform the public that no load shedding is expected. Eskom would like to remind the public that the system does remain vulnerable and, should there be any significant breakdowns, load shedding can be implemented at short notice. Eskom will continue to communicate, should there be any further changes.” However, a report by Rapport reveals that the company is under pressure and cannot meet demand. This will impact the country as regular power outages are set to occur, as Mybroadband.co.za reports. – Bernice Maune.
By MyBroadband.co.za
Eskom is planning for electricity generation shortages of no less than 1,000MW every week over the next three months.
This is according to a report in Rapport.
The newspaper also stated that Eskom is pushing ahead to increase electricity tariffs by 15% in 2021.
This follows a recent High Court case which determined that the energy regulator had made mistakes in its revenue and RCA decisions over the last few years.
The substituted decision made by the court addressed an incorrectly deducted amount of R69 billion from the multi-year price determination (MYPD) which determines Eskom’s electricity prices.
These tariff hikes come as South Africa heads for its worst year of load-shedding yet.
While managing to keep the lights on during South Africa’s initial lockdown period, increased economic activity has driven up energy demand.
Repeated generation unit breakdowns over the last few weeks has subsequently necessitated load-shedding on a regular basis.
Rapport also provided a breakdown which showed that Eskom has planned for regular electricity shortages up to the start of December.
This will result in Stage 1 to Stage 3 load-shedding being implemented every week until the holiday period at the end of the year.
The news follows Eskom recently launching an online portal which gives users the ability to view its power system status and other related data.
This followed requests from OUTA to Eskom to make its system performance information publicly available in a user-friendly format.
Among the information available is the projected hourly average demand over the next three months, which is shown in the graph below.
Source:
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