Eskom sheds light on load-shedding

Midrand residents, like the rest of the country, are affected by constant and unplanned load-shedding.

To shed some light on the matter of load-shedding, the Midrand Reporter learnt from Eskom that it is definitely not going anywhere, anytime soon.
When asked how long Eskom projected load-shedding for, Ronel Kotze, practitioner from Eskom’s communication and stakeholder relations department said, “Eskom has consistently, at least since December 2019 and much longer, stated that the country is short of generation capacity equivalent to 4 000 megawatts and made a clear request for the government to help procure this additional capacity in order to end load-shedding.”

“This gap will continue to grow as the current fleet continues to deteriorate due to age, currently averaging 41 years, and the poor maintenance practices that it has been subjected to in the past,” Kotze explained.

“We estimate this supply deficit to currently be 4 000 megawatts to 6 000 megawatts of additional generation capacity required. Having this additional capacity installed would afford Eskom space to adequately conduct reliability maintenance and bring the ageing power stations to an acceptable level of reliability and bring an end to load-shedding.”

On the brighter side, you could submit a claim if your appliances are affected. “In instances where consumers have a contract directly with Eskom they may have a claim based on breach of contract where they suffer damage as a result of load-shedding.”

Kotze added that complex matters and claims raised with Eskom are routed to responsible departments for a thorough investigation and the customer is then informed of the resolution or outcome within 15 days from the day the call was logged.

Eskom offered the following tips to reduce the chances of damages when the power comes back on:

• If the power goes off, it is safer to turn off or disconnect any electrical appliances
• Keep one light switched on so you can see when the power returns
• Be careful, when the power comes back on, it may do so with momentary surges
• Remember to reset the time-control clocks on cooking ovens, pool pumps, geysers and other automatically controlled appliances, unless these are battery operated
• Also remember that householders are responsible for all electricity usage and appliances in their homes.

Details: Eskom contact centre 086 003 7566.