President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed claims that Eskom has managed to reduce loadshedding due to a “political ploy” ahead of the May 29 general elections.
According to Ramaphosa, a combination of factors has resulted in the suspension of power cuts. These include fixing Eskom, unlocking private investment in energy generation, accelerating the procurement of new capacity, and supporting rooftop solar.
Ramaphosa was speaking on Monday through his official newsletter.
He said that while great strides have been made in reducing blackouts, loadshedding remains a risk.
Energy action plan
“As of today, the country will have had no loadshedding for over a month and a half. This welcome development shows that the energy action plan we announced in 2022 is working,” he said.
“It is too early to say that loadshedding has come to an end. However, the sustained improvement in the performance of Eskom’s power stations, as well as the new generation capacity we have added to our energy system, gives us hope that the end of loadshedding is in sight.
“A renewed focus by Eskom on maintenance and the return to service of several units is now showing results.
“Losses due to unplanned outages have reduced by 9% between April 2023 and March 2024, adding the equivalent of 4 400MW of capacity to our national grid.”
The president explained further: “Better maintained and more reliable power stations have increased the country’s energy availability factor [EAF], which is the amount of electricity available from our power stations at any given time.
Risk of loadshedding remains
“The EAF has been above 60% since April, compared to 53% over the same period last year.
“Through dedicated support from our law-enforcement agencies and the National Prosecuting Authority, great strides are being made in rooting out corruption at Eskom.
“Work is continuing to disrupt criminal syndicates and protect our power stations from sabotage. The leadership, management, and staff of Eskom, particularly the power station general managers and their teams, are to be commended for their efforts.
“The work of the national energy crisis committee, which coordinates the response across government, has also been vital.
“The strong partnership with business and the support of other social partners have enabled the deployment of valuable resources and expertise.
“Yet, against all the available evidence, some people have claimed that the reduced loadshedding is a political ploy ahead of the elections.
“Some have speculated that there is less loadshedding because Eskom is using the diesel-fueled peaking plants to ‘keep the lights on’ in the run-up to the elections.
“This is not borne out by the facts. Eskom is actually using these peaking plants at a much lower rate than in the last two years. For example, last month, Eskom spent more than half as much on diesel as it did in April 2023.
“Another key factor driving the reduction in loadshedding is our success in adding new generation capacity, mostly from renewable energy sources.”
Ramaphosa said that while progress has been made in reducing loadshedding, the risk of rolling power cuts remains.
He said: “The risk of loadshedding remains. We must therefore all continue to play our part by using electricity sparingly and paying for the electricity that we use.
“What we can say for sure is that our plan is working. We are determined to stay the course and to continue this work until the energy crisis is brought to an end.”
