No signs suggesting a dark winter, says Ramokgopa

JOHANNESBURG - Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that there are currently no signs suggesting South Africans will be plunged into darkness this winter.

For years, households across the country were forced to endure high stages of load shedding as temperatures dropped and demand for power increased.

With more than a hundred days of load shedding now having come and gone, Ramokgopa gave an update on the grid on Monday, as severe weather hits large parts of the country.

While Eskom has not ruled out the possibility of power cuts during winter, it does not see load shedding exceeding stage two.

Ramokgopa said the power utility’s planned capacity loss factor is idling below 12,000 megawatts, which signals that lights will likely remain on for the rest of the cold season.

“The performance has been the exception, exceeding our own expectations. I will show you the numbers, I think we are sitting on average about 12,000 MW. So, we are 2,000MW better than what Eskom had predicted to be the best-case scenario.”

Ramokgopa said households in high-density areas may, however, continue to experience power cuts from time to time due to the implementation of load reduction.

Unlike load shedding, load reduction is implemented by municipalities when their systems are unable to supply in line with the demand.