President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday said the country’s energy crisis is the price it’s paying for years of miscalculations.
He added that there was no way to end load shedding overnight.
In his first weekly newsletter for the year, the president is now cautioning not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Ramaphosa also pleaded with Eskom not to implement an 18.65% tariff increase while the country is in the grips of its worst energy shortage since democracy.
Ramaphosa said over the years critical maintenance at Eskom’s coal-fired power stations was deferred adding that they were worn out to keep the lights on.
But he added that the country needs to be realistic about its challenges and what it’s going to take to fix them.
A lack of investment in new generating capacity, poor power plant maintenance, corruption, criminality, sabotage, rising municipal debt, and a lack of skills at Eskom created the perfect storm, Ramaphosa said.
A team of independent experts was diagnosing the problems at Eskom’s coal-fired power stations.
Six of them were identified for particular focus over the next six months to boost capacity.
Around 300 megawatts were being imported from neighbouring countries – while negotiations were underway to increase this by another 1,000 megawatts.
Eskom is also looking at buying surplus power from companies with available generation for the next three years.
Ramaphosa said that the huge debt owed to Eskom by municipalities is badly affecting the power utility’s ability to fund critical maintenance.
-EWN
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