President Cyril Ramaphosa has weighed in on Eskom’s application to hike power cost by 32%, saying, through his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, that a balance was needed between the utility’s need for cash and the consumer’s ability to pay. The National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) has granted Eskom a 18.65% increase.
Magwenya, who was briefing members of the media at the Union Buildings on Thursday said Ramaphosa was worried about the rising cost of living and how load-shedding was adding to an already difficult economic situation.
“At this stage, the president cannot interfere with that process. It is a statutory process that Nersa has under way. Eskom does need the money and the president is mindful of the severity of consumers paying more for electricity they do not have.
“Having said that, we need to sustain the funding of Eskom from multiple sources, including the uses in order to enable Eskom to fund its maintenance, to fund its various programmes that are currently under way.
“Nersa has a number of court orders that ordered Nersa to grant Eskom some of the increases they applied for and as I’ve said, Eskom does need the money and is in need of funding, therefore there’s a balance that has to be maintained.
“The president is alive to the pain of having to pay more from the consumer perspective for power that is intermittent in its availability. As we continue to drive solutions to reliability of the grid, we hope that pain will be alleviated,” Magwenya said.
Magwenya added that Ramaphosa found load-shedding “regrettable”.
SA is plunged into stage 6 load-shedding indefinitely.
“President Ramaphosa deeply regrets the current energy situation, which has placed the country into stage six load-shedding. The president acknowledges the frustration of households, parents and learners who’ve commenced the school calendar year with power shortages. The devastation to small businesses and the adverse impact on the economy remain severe for SA’s recovering economy.
“On December 15, 2022 president Ramaphosa convened a national energy crisis committee comprising of ministers and various technical workstream leads. Whilst the president acknowledged some of the progress made in the executing of elements of the national energy plan, he further demanded more urgency and speed in the implementation of all priority areas and actions laid out in the national energy plan,” Magwenya said.
Magwenya said to date, Ramaphosa remained seized with finding solutions to the current energy crisis.
“The president has been regularly briefed on the situation at Eskom and the rollout of the national energy plan.”
More engagements are scheduled for Thursday and Friday for a review of the situation and direction on urgent measures that can be taken in order to mitigate against the impact of load-shedding.
“Despite the gloomy state of load-shedding, the national energy crisis committee work streams have continued to make progress in several areas aimed at ensuring the sustainability of the grid and finding additional megawatts.”
Eskom previously said 11 generating units amounting to 5,084MW of capacity had suffered breakdowns since Tuesday morning, further reducing available capacity and necessitating the increase in the stages of load-shedding.
“These were a unit each at the Camden, Duvha, Grootvlei, Hendrina, Kendal, and two units each at Kriel, Majuba and Matla power stations.
“A unit each at Camden, Duvha, Hendrina, Kriel, Matimba and Matla power stations have returned to service, representing 2,540MW of capacity.”
Eskom said planned maintenance was at 5,739MW, while breakdowns amounted to 18,041MW on Wednesday. “Eskom requests the public to reduce the usage of electricity and to exercise patience and tolerance during this difficult period.”
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