Eskoms policy turn about
Everyone is wondering what has caused Eskoms sudden change of policy regarding load shedding and it seems that ahead of the Energy summit later this week a few clues are beginning to emerge.
It appears that a punitive system or tarrif scaling in one form or another is going to be on the cards which will impact commercial and industrial electricity consumers.
Experts have warned that the ageing infrastructure of the country’s substations cannot cope with the load-shedding pressure, and this could result in an even worse crisis.
In Cape Town, technicians argued that instead of saving the required 10 percent on electricity usage, load-shedding was producing the opposite – where businesses and residents increased their electricity usage during those times when electricity was available, so adding to the pressure on the power grid.
This could lead to damaged substations and prolonged blackouts.
Etzinger said this should not be the case.
“Substations are in essence designed to switch loads on and off. load-shedding should therefore not, of itself, be an issue,” he said.
He ducked a question about whether a punitive sliding scale of tariffs was on the cards and said power conservation was Eskom’s preferred approach.
Some economists have estimated the load-shedding has cost the country billions, but Etzinger said no exact figures were available.
Eskom says it is facing increased costs for fuel and coal.
It wants to up its tariffs by about 60 percent and says this would allow it to break even and avoid later massive increases.
It says increased revenue is needed for the public utility company to keep a favourable credit rating that would allow it to expand
Excerpt from this article on IOL