The Democratic Alliance (DA) says Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe’s statement about government’s planned interventions to resolve the electricity crisis is too little to late.
The DA says it however welcomes Mantashe’s announcement to issue a Section 34 determination to empower Independent Power Producers in the bulk sale of electricity.
DA Spokesperson on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Kevin Mileham says: “This Section 34 determines will allow municipalities and certain large power users to purchase directly from independent power producers.”
“But what the Minister hasn’t done, is he hasn’t given the authorisation for new generation from independent power producers which could come online quickly and easily to alleviate the crisis. When I say quickly and easily, within a number of months we could have renewable energy systems up and running and feeding energy into the grid.”
Meanwhile, City Power has urged customers to refrain from excessively using electricity while they are not being load shed.
This as Eskom continues to implement Stage 2 rotational load shedding until 23:00 on Wednesday night.
The power utility says, whilst it has managed to return several power stations, the probability for load shedding remains high for the rest of the week.
In an unprecedented move on Monday, Eskom implemented Stage 6 load shedding due to a shortage of capacity following a technical problem at Medupi power station.
City Power spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, has appealed for customers to help reduce the pressure on the system.
He says when the electricity goes off for four hours during load shedding, immediately when the switches go on again, consumers rush to switch on their stoves and geysers, and in that way it puts more pressure on the system.
“There are a lot of people coming onto the grid, and that is why we are having trips on cables and sub-stations blowing up. So we appeal to customers to play their part and ensure they gradually get into the system to avoid the instability for some time,” says Mangena.
