Load Shedding in South Africa Unlikely Until January, and France Lends Eskom R1-Billion
Christmas seems to be coming early for South Africans with a drop in petrol prices, today’s ruling that Jacob Zuma must pay for his own legal fees and news from Eskom that it’s unlikely to implement power cuts again until mid-January next year. This is thanks to electricity demands easing over the Christmas and New Year […]
Christmas seems to be coming early for South Africans with a drop in petrol prices, today’s ruling that Jacob Zuma must pay for his own legal fees and news from Eskom that it’s unlikely to implement power cuts again until mid-January next year. This is thanks to electricity demands easing over the Christmas and New Year holiday season.
The state-owned utility, which supplies South Africa with more than 90 percent of its electricity, began its notorious load shedding (see the jokes here) late last month due to what it claimed was coal shortages and poor plant performance.
The past four days have however been loadshedding-free… although Eskom has warned that the power system remains vulnerable.
In a statement Thursday, Eskom said: “The probability of load-shedding remains low from today until Sunday 13 January 2019. This is as a result of the expected decrease in demand as businesses and industries close down for the festive break.”
To prepare for the return of businesses in the new year, Eskom says it will intensify maintenance activities in December to improve generation capacity.
French Government Agency to Loan R1.5 Billion to Eskom
Separately, Eskom said on Thursday that it had signed a R1.5 billion ($106 million) loan agreement with French government agency Agence Française de Développement (AFD) to help it extend and strengthen its power transmission grid.
The funds are the first tranche of a R6.5 billion multi-tranche loan facility signed in March 2017.
Eskom is facing a severe financial crisis and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said last week that the government was considering restructuring the company’s debt.
Eskom Task Team To Be Announced
The cash-strapped power firm has said it wants the government to take on R100-billion of its debts, about a quarter of its total borrowings. On Thursday evening President Cyril Ramaphosa said that amount is about R475-billion.
Speaking in an interview on Radio 702, Ramaphosa said he will be announcing a task team to study Eskom tomorrow. The panel of experts will look at the business model and funding model and come up with fresh proposals for the company to be better structured going forwards.
(Reporting by Patricia Aruo and Jenni Baxter; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Kirsten Donovan/Reuters and Jenni Baxter/SApeople)
