Load-shedding returns but permanent end coming soon
Eskom resumed power cuts after some of its plants malfunctioned, ending a 10-month break from outages that both praised the utility and raised suspicions about whether a turnaround in its performance was sustainable.
Eskom took 3,000 MW offline from 5 p.m. on Friday in order to balance the national grid after several generation units broke down, Eskom CEO Dan Marokane told reporters.
Rotational blackouts—known locally as load-shedding—reached record levels in recent years due to the poor performance of the utility’s mostly coal-fired power stations, which curbed productivity and economic growth.
The cuts are expected to run through the weekend as fuel is replenished at plants used to generate power during peak use, and crews work to repair the broken units and bring those undergoing maintenance back online.
“This represents a temporary setback”, and Eskom will work to restore the system to normal levels by Monday, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said at the briefing. “We remain on course.”
The power cuts were announced after an earlier warning on Friday that caused the rand to weaken as much as 0.5% against the dollar. Bonds also softened, with the yield on benchmark 2035 government notes rising 8 basis points to 10.4% before paring losses.
The outages resumed a day after the regulator granted Eskom permission to raise tariffs by 12.7% in the next financial year, well short of the 36% it requested.
Improving reliability
Marokane previously attributed the streak of stable supply to improved maintenance of generation equipment. Better morale at the company and measures to reduce crime and corruption also contributed to improved performance
The outages, which lasted as many as 12 hours a day, were halted in the weeks before last year’s national election. That drew questions as to whether the company was relying on costly diesel turbines to maintain the power supply.
Eskom denied this, and doubts that its improved performance was transitory faded as the months went by, and the utility touted its reduced use of the fuel to run the auxiliary units.
Marokane said the resumption of load-shedding wouldn’t change Eskom’s approach toward improving its operational performance.
“We continue along the path that we started,” he said. “That’s the focus that we have — improving reliability.”
Ramokgopa said Eskom was taking measures to add 2,500 megawatts of capacity from its larger generation units to the grid by March, and when the work is complete, the declaration can be made that “we are confident that load-shedding is behind us.”
Comments