Dan Marokane, Group Chief Executive of Eskom. Picture: SImphiwe Mbokazi/Independent Newspapers
While Eskom has announced that they have successfully delivered 300 days without loadshedding the eThekwini municipality announced planned power outages which will interrupt electricity supply in the Mpumalanga township, over three weekends.
The municipality stated that the Eskom power outage to affect Mpumalanga Substation over multiple weekends.
The public is advised of a planned power outage that will interrupt electricity supply from the Mpumalanga Substation over three weekends (including Mondays), as follows:
• 25 to 27 January
• 1 to 3 February and,
• 15 to 17 February.
The municipality said that the public will experience daily outages from 5am to 5pm during these periods.
The supply interruption is required to allow Eskom to refurbish the electrical infrastructure at the Georgedale Substation which feeds the Mpumalanga Substation.
“To execute this work safely, it is necessary to interrupt electricity supply at the Mpumalanga Substation. The maintenance work is required to improve the reliability of these substations, leading to a higher quality of electricity supply to the area,” the municipality stated.
During this period, the Mpumalanga Township will be affected.
Customers in this area are urged to plan for this outage.
During this outage, the public is advised to treat all electrical installations as live.
Eskom's Achievement
Meanwhile Eskom delivered 300 consecutive days without loadshedding, a milestone last reached in June 2018.
This milestone is the outcome of Eskom implementing the Generation Recovery Plan since March 2023, which has delivered sustained and ongoing structural improvement in the Generation fleet.
Bheki Nxumalo, Group Executive for Generation said credit goes to the 40 000 dedicated and skilled Eskom employees who are committed to serving South Africa. He said their sights are now firmly focussed on delivering one year without loadshedding at midnight on 26 March 2025.
“These 300 days without loadshedding have been characterised by a significant reduction in unplanned outages, which have long been one of the biggest challenges, a notable improvement in the energy availability factor of approximately 7%, and savings in diesel expenditure of R16.42 billion,” concluded Nxumalo.
“This concrete and ongoing delivery of the action plan has boosted business confidence with credit rating agencies and banks stating Eskom’s performance recovery is a key contributor towards positive sentiments as far as South Africa’s GDP growth prospects of up to 2% are concerned,” said Dan Marokane, Group Chief Executive of Eskom.
Marokane stated that public sentiment is shifting and business leaders who once had to invest precious capex in self-generation have enquired whether they should revert to investing in Eskom for their power needs.
“The savings we are making in diesel spend are invested in the business to drive efficiencies further and place Eskom on a path to profitability and long-term operational and financial sustainability,” concluded Marokane.
zainul.dawood@inl.co.za