ESKOM says the lights will stay on
'Our prognosis for winter is that there will be no load shedding'
LAST year this time we were in the midst of regular load shedding. This year will be different.
Eskom’s Group Chief Executive, Dr Brian Molefe, said no load shedding was expected this winter because the power utility has stabilised the grid.
Briefing journalists on the state of the power grid on Thursday, the Molefe said the status of the grid was at satisfactory levels because planned maintenance now exceeded unplanned breakdowns, which signified that technicians were in full control of the grid.
“Our prognosis for winter is that there will be no load shedding.
“We will continue with a rigorous programme of planned maintenance without implementing load shedding while also minimising the usage of open cycle gas turbines,” Molefe said.
He said Eskom has not implemented load shedding for nine months since August last year.
As of May 11, the energy availability stood at 78.1% due to Eskom’s maintenance tool called Tetris – which ensures that the maintenance schedule is optimised to ensure there is no load shedding. Breakdowns, or unplanned maintenance, stood at 9.2%, while planned outages stood at 12.7% of the total electricity supply.
