SA electricity distribution under the spotlight

The backlog of the country's electricity distribution infrastructure is estimated at R5 billion: EDI

South Africa’s electricity problems will not get any better, even if Eskom is able to meet the demand when it completes its new power stations in the next eight years. This is if municipalities delay in taking part in the restructuring of the electricity distribution sector.

This is the view of the government electricity distributing company EDI Holdings. It emerged at the Regional Engagement Forum meeting in Langebaan on the West Coast. The meeting brings together stakeholders who are within the borders of the first regional distributor, RED One.

EDI Holdings said the backlog of the country's electricity distribution infrastructure is estimated at R5 billion. The impact of this backlog will not be felt until the country overcomes the electricity generation problem.

But some outages are actually caused by the failing distribution network of municipalities. According to RED One, the problems of the distribution network are currently being disguised by power generation constraints and these will become evident in the next eight years.

RED Regional General Manager Deon Louw says: “So once the generation problem has disappeared as we expect in a few years time, then suddenly we will have an effect that people will have no power in certain situations, not as a result of generation but as a result of distribution problems. And now to recover from that it will much more costly than if we had to carry on right now with the restructuring process.”

He has urged municipalities to merge with Eskom to form the proposed six Regional Electricity Distributors. This is because the under resourced municipalities are failing to replace ageing infrastructure. He says the failure to restructure the distribution sector will prolong the power outages in the country - even if Eskom is able to meet the energy demand.