President Cyril Ramaphosa believes Eskom has to be cautious and considerate in applying the electricity tariff increase as South Africans are already under severe financial pressure, according to the presidency.
This comes as Ramaphosa meets various stakeholders about the load-shedding crisis. He is “deeply concerned” about the 18.65% tariff increase the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) granted to Eskom from April 1.
“While the president fully appreciates that Eskom needs additional funding, he is equally sympathetic to anger and frustration that is being felt by consumers and households with regard to paying more for power that is intermittent,” said presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.
Eskom was granted the tariff hike last week as the power utility plunged the country into stage 6 load-shedding again for a week. This bout of load-shedding has left some consumers without electricity for up to 10 hours a day.
“It is vital that Eskom and municipalities consider a balance that needs to be maintained in the application of this tariff increase. Households are already reeling under the high cost of living. Electricity costs need to match the availability of megawatts and the electricity that people are receiving,” Magwenya quoted Ramaphosa as saying.
Ramaphosa cancelled his trip to the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, this week “due to the ongoing energy crisis”.
“The president acknowledges that we are in a crisis, hence his demand to the national energy crisis committee (Neccom) team to step up to the magnitude of the crisis. The national energy plan was informed by the recognition that we are in a crisis,” Magwenya said.
Ramaphosa told the Neccom meeting on Friday that he was unhappy with the levels of collaboration among the departments and ministers in the structure.
“Teams are working together across all relevant areas of government and Eskom, and there is progress being made. However, the levels of collaboration are not enough for the president. He is demanding more collaboration, action, urgency and speed in realising the national energy plan and mitigating the current devastating load-shedding.”
Ramaphosa told stakeholders that Eskom is “too big to fail”, Magwenya said, and all steps must be taken to ensure the power utility is fixed with the full support of the government.
“Security efforts have been stepped up to deal with acts of sabotage and criminality, however, more needs to be done with a lot more intensity. And work is ongoing in this regard with respect to addressing security and corruption at Eskom,” Magwenya said.
“Planned maintenance schedules must be conducted on time and within the required standards to get additional megawatts back onto the grid. We need faster turnaround times in resolving unplanned breakages.
“There is a process under way to expedite procurement where certain machinery and equipment can be sourced directly from the OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] which will result in accelerated procurement processes that will lead to faster turnaround times,” Magwenya said.
Indefinite higher stages of load-shedding “are unacceptable and are devastating to the economy, especially small businesses”, he quoted the president as saying.
TimesLIVE
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