The Fatshimetrie sector is at the heart of the news with the revelations of the Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. In a recent statement, the Minister announced an incredible performance: 40 days without load shedding. This feat, according to him, is the result of hard work and technical achievement by the Eskom team, and not the result of an electoral strategy in anticipation of the next elections.
Ramokgopa highlighted that this achievement was the result of preventive maintenance carried out the previous year, coupled with lower peak hour demand. He said the unplanned capacity loss factor recorded a significant decline from 34% in April 2023 to 29% in April 2024, an improvement of five percentage points.
He was keen to commend the involvement of Eskom staff in this achievement, emphasizing the importance of the efforts made to increase planned maintenance in December and January. Ramokgopa made it clear that there was no link between this performance and the date of the upcoming elections.
Despite speculation from some sceptics, the Minister formally denied allegations that Eskom was maintaining power supply by burning more diesel for fear of negative electoral repercussions from load shedding. He assured that the company only relies on maintenance and affirmed that forecasts indicate a decrease in the use of diesel for this financial year.
Ramokgopa also highlighted that the Eskom board is on track to end load shedding after achieving its 65% energy availability target for 2024. He said generation units such as Medupi, Koeberg and Kusile will help increase power generation capacity in the coming months.
Eskom is experiencing a positive trend towards its goal of ending load shedding, the Minister highlighted. He said that despite the progress made, he would not make false promises, but that they are moving closer to this ambitious goal faster than expected.
In conclusion, the announcement by the Minister of Electricity sends a strong signal regarding the stability and reliability of the energy sector in the country. The initiatives taken by Eskom and the hard work of its teams show that significant improvement has been made, putting the country on the path to ending load shedding and transitioning to a more stable and sustainable energy future.