TOTAL BLACKOUT A NO-NO
Molefe under pressure over tariffs
THE prospect of a total blackout is virtually nonexistent, acting Eskom CEO Brian Molefe has said.
Eskom is planning to carry out its biggest maintenance process ever this winter, Molefe revealed during its quarterly system update.
“We will perform during winter about 5 500 megawatts of planned maintenance. This is three times more maintenance we have done in the previous winters. So typically, in winter, Eskom would limit the maintenance we do because of the pressure on the system,” he said.
But it still remains unclear whether Molefe will be appointed to the position permanently.
Molefe, the permanent CEO of Transnet, was roped into Eskom in April after four executives, including chief executive Tshediso Matona and chief financial officer Tsholofelo Molefe, were suspended.
Matona and executive Dan Marokane resigned in May and June respectively.
Molefe and head of commercial and technology Matshela Koko remain on suspension.
Eskom ’ s acting chairman, Ben Ngubane, without naming the two, said “she ” was discussing with her lawyers while “he ” has not made a move and would be subjected to an inquiry.
Should his contract not be renewed, Molefe said he could return to Transnet after July 9. Molefe took the reins in April and had a three-month contract.
His media presentation showed that Eskom had forecast that it would experience 100 days of insufficient generation capacity and face high probability of load-shedding in the first six months of the year.
However, during this period, the country had 92 days without loadshedding, he said.
Molefe, under pressure to persuade National Energy Regulator of SA to grant the power utility an increase of 25.3% in the financial year starting July 2016, could not resist taking pot shots at critics. “There has been talk from certain quarters of a total blackout in SA. We are happy to announce that the prospect of a total blackout in SA is virtually nonexistent,” Molefe said.
He said it was most likely for the country to experience stage one and two load-shedding, “and if things are very bad we could have stage three load-shedding ”.
Molefe said the lack of power supply was not as bad as the media made it out to be, because there was 96% electricity capacity available during periods of load-shedding.
He said diesel has been used extensively to prevent or minimise chances of load-shedding.