ESKOM load reduction and celebration of hundred-plus days without load shedding in rural areas has been derided by many who expressed that the difference between load shedding and load reduction was that load reduction was only being implemented in the rural areas.
The state-entity’s recent performance has been hailed following a few months without load shedding, which has now been replaced with “load reduction”, which continues to disrupt the availability of electricity in many parts of the country.
Asked why load reduction was implemented in some areas (rural and townships) while the electricity supply continued uninterrupted in some parts of the country, The Eskom media desk said it would respond but failed to do so by the time of publication, despite the various extensions that were afforded to Eskom.
Since the suspension of load shedding, South Africa has not experienced load shedding for over 152 days, with unplanned losses averaging roughly 124 000 MW since April.
Last week, Eskom chief executive Dan Marokane said the utility hoped to avoid load shedding during the summer as long as outages remain below 13 000 MW.
Marokane added that the utility had reduced its diesel bill by R10 billion year on year amid the drop in diesel expenditure.
However, Eskom’s improved performance has been criticised by residents of Mpumalanga and some parts of Gauteng who complained to the publication about “ongoing load shedding”.
In July, Eskom said network overloading had resurfaced with the onset of winter. The power utility said the issue was prevalent in the Eskom supply areas in Limpopo, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and North West where about 94% of the total overloaded transformers were, as a result of electricity theft and the indiscriminate use of electricity.
“Despite continued public information campaigns to customers about the implications of electricity theft activities, Eskom has no other option but to implement load reduction to protect its assets from repeated failures and explosions, which pose a risk to human lives,” read the July Eskom statement.
“Overloaded transformers as a result of electricity theft present a serious risk to human life. We only implement load reduction as a very last resort for the shortest periods possible after all other options have been exhausted,” said Monde Bala, Group Executive for Distribution.
“A transformer damaged by overloading can leave an area without power for up to six months; protecting Eskom’s assets is in the best interest of all South Africans,” said Bala.
The power supplier said Eskom’s infrastructure was designed to handle loads based on known demand, which is legally connected to customers and actual sales for specific areas, adding that exceeding these loads through electricity theft could overload the equipment, potentially causing explosions that may lead to electrical fires in the surrounding areas.
This was why overloading presented a serious risk to lives and equipment, particularly mini-substations and transformers.
Clarifying the difference between load shedding and load reduction, the entity said: “Load reduction is a long-established process that Eskom uses in specific areas when there is sufficient electricity available but a transformer’s integrity is at risk due to overloading, whereas load shedding is used when the national grid is constrained and there is not sufficient capacity to generate electricity to meet demand,” read the statement, adding that it was also a proactive measure that Eskom used to protect human life, equipment worth millions of rands and people’s livelihoods.
The entity stated that the overloading of transformers was recorded mainly during peak hours, around 5am-7am and 5pm-7pm.
The power utility mentioned that in areas where load reduction had been implemented in the past, Eskom saw a significant reduction in equipment failure and prolonged outages.
Currently, 80% of South Africa’s electricity comes from coal-fired power plants run by Eskom.
Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa said last week during the Just Energy Transition Municipal Forum in Johannesburg that his government would set up a body to oversee raising R319bn that it estimated was needed to repair and upgrade the country’s municipal power grids.
According to the Presidency, the country’s municipalities need at least R200bn to catch up with maintenance, R45bn to connect more people to electricity and R73bn to modernise urban grids, including the rolling out of charging stations for electric vehicles.
South African municipalities are already R82bn in debt to Eskom and are struggling to meet their obligation to provide reliable water and power services amid serious corruption and incompetence.
thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za