Load shedding was last resort to avoid collapse of power grid and blackouts – Ramaphosa
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa said the load shedding which has disrupted the daily lives of South Africans and caused great damage to the economy was a stark reminder of severe and intractable challenges the electricity system faced.
Speaking during the oral question session in Parliament, Ramaphosa said load shedding was always the last resort where demand for electricity was greater than what could be produced by the system.
“It is necessary to prevent the collapse of the power grid and a complete blackout,” he said.
Ramaphosa said load shedding was also an inevitable consequence of the fact that many of Eskom's power plants were ageing.
“Many of us will know that a number of them are between 20, 30, 40 and 60 years.
”This has affected the inability of our power-generating company on a number of fronts.”
The president said Eskom had to undertake fundamental maintenance that was necessary to improve reliability of the electricity supply.
“As it continues with maintenance, load shedding will remain a possibility for some time to come,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the government was working on a number of ways to fix the problem, including restructuring Eskom into three entities that would deal with energy transmission, generation and distribution.
“The legal separation of transmission entity is planned for December 31 this year, and the generation and distribution next year,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the Electricity Regulation Act and electricity pricing policy were being amended to reflect the new structure of the industry.
“The restructuring of Eskom will transform the sector and enable greater competition and investment in new generation capacity.”
He noted that some municipalities were getting ready to take advantage of what may flow from the transformation process and had declared their intention to generate power for their residents.
“This will remove the risk of relying on one entity that has a sole monopoly on power generation. This reform will have a significant positive impact on economic growth and improve reliability and efficiency of our electricity supply.”
Asked if the government would obstruct municipalities from generating energy, Ramaphosa said measures had been put in place that would include independent generation of electricity, including by local government entities.
“We have given a clear direction and permission for the local government to generate.”
He said he wanted to see municipalities move on to generate electricity to end the risk of one entity generating electricity for the entire country.
“Be assured that the national government is not going to obstruct the capacity of local government at all. You can go to sleep peacefully then,” he told DA leader John Steenhuisen.
Ramaphosa also detailed some of the measures aimed at addressing energy constraints.
However, he said while substantial energy supply was to come to the grid, there were many challenges in securing reliable energy.
These included management of Eskom debt, overcoming the skills deficit, improving municipal revenue collections, addressing procurement and rooting out corruption and criminality, among others.
“Whatever anyone may want to say, it is a complex problem. However, we have developed a roadmap towards revitalising Eskom within the transformed energy industry,” he said.
He said government was determined to achieve energy security in the country regardless of the difficulties.
“We have ensured that energy generation does not come from one source only on a monopoly basis. We have to ensure there will be many other sources of energy generation.”