Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has singled out rolling blackouts as a major contributor to the country’s rising cost of living.
He says most farmers invest a lot of money in production that requires uninterrupted power supply.
Farmers are now passing the cost of using alternative energy to the consumer.
ANC NEC media briefing:
Ramokgopa was speaking in his capacity as an African National Congress National Executive Committee (ANC NEC) member at the party’s meeting in Boksburg east of Johannesburg.
“The percentage of disposable income that the poorest are spending on the basic basket of food is disproportionate compared to the middle and high income earners. So what that means is that load shedding has got the disproportionate impact on the poor, so they are feeling it much more than any other person.
There are three lanes to the resolution of the problem, so the first one is on the generation side, improvement of the installed unit at Eskom in keeping with the energy action plan that was unveiled by president last year in July.”
