Cape Town - Electricity cuts by South Africa's ailing power utility Eskom cost the economy between R20-billion and R80-billion a month, according to a presentation by the Department of Public Enterprises to Parliament on Wednesday.
“Load shedding between Stages 1 and 3 costs the economy anywhere between 20 billion rand to 80 billion rand per month,” the presentation said.
Eskom expects its coal-fired Medupi power station to start generating 800 megawatts of electricity by June or July this year, a government minister told Parliament on Wednesday.
Medupi, whose total installed capacity is expected to be 4 764 MW when fully complete, would be the first power station that South Africa has built in 20 years.
Eskom has been implementing regular power cuts to cope with power shortages.
Reuters