Eskom explains contingency plan
An article claiming that municipalities have been informed that stage 8 load-shedding is imminent, is erroneous and incorrect.
Juanita Vogel, stakeholder management: Mpumalanga operating unit, said in keeping with Eskom’s obligations in terms of the Disaster Management Act, they are required to develop contingency plans for identified major incidents.
“A severe supply constraint is one of these, for which we have plans in place. Eskom also continually improves these plans.”
After 2015, Eskom and the municipalities identified the need to extend the planning in place related to the number of stages of load-shedding and the national code was subsequently updated after significant engagement with stakeholders in 2016/17.
This has been published as NRS048-9 Ed.2 and it caters for eight stages of load-shedding. Each stage provides for a reduction in load of approximately five per cent that equates to roughly 1 000MW at peak. Stage 8 equates to approximately an 8 000MW deficit.
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The likelihood of reaching stage 8 is low.
NERSA approved NRS 048-9 Ed.2 as a regulatory requirement in 2019.
In compliance with NRS048-9-2, Eskom and most municipal suppliers have developed load-shedding schedules that cater for stages 1 to 8.
When stage 6 load-shedding was implemented in December, not all metros or municipalities had published their extended load-shedding schedules.
The Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities therefore engaged most of its members to confirm their compliance to the code – i.e. whether stages 5 to 8 had been published by those metros that had not yet done so.
As a prudent system operator, Eskom ensures that its contingency planning addresses several high-impact, low-probability incidents such as this. This planning is in close cooperation with municipal suppliers, and includes preparedness reviews and simulation exercises (as is standard practice for other incidents such as a nuclear incident or a national blackout).
