Possible load shedding a political crisis

Energy Analyst Chris Yelland has described the possibility of load shedding on Wednesday as a political crisis.

This after the power utility announced that there’s a possibility of rotational load shedding across the country from 09:00 until 23:00.

Eskom says this is as a result of a shortage of capacity.

#PowerAlert Due to a shortage of capacity stage 2 loadshedding is to be implemented from 9 am to 11pm today. Media statement with more details to follow @CityPowerJhb @City_Ekurhuleni @CityTshwane @CityofJoburgZA @CityofCT @ewnupdates @SABCNewsOnline @IOL @eNCA @SAgovnews

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) October 16, 2019

Yelland says Eskom is experiencing a number of technical issues, and that unplanned breakdowns are occurring more frequently.

“All of this could not come at a worse time politically – with the IRP going to cabinet today for approval, with the Moody’s credit rating review at the end of the month, with the Eskom white paper due any day, new Eskom CEO due to be appointed any day and the Medium Term Budget Outlook Statement to be issued shortly – all of these things in the next weeks make this a political disaster.”

“I knew yesterday that Eskom was in crisis mode…It is impossible to know and it all depends on how quickly Eskom can resolve these problems. These are random occurrences. When you are running old plants hard, these unplanned breakdowns happen more and more often,” adds Yelland.

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