DURBAN - LOAD shedding during peak night-time hours throughout winter would deal a major blow to the economy, especially for the transport and restaurant sectors.
This is according to economists who were commenting yesterday after the power utility released a statement on the system’s constraints.
Eskom had initially begun with the implementation of stage 2 of load shedding, scheduled from 5pm on Sunday.
However, the power utility announced yesterday that it had suspended load shedding from 4am yesterday but the rotational power cuts would resume from 5pm until 10pm last night.
It said the system remained vulnerable and that teams had returned seven generation units to service.
Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsha said the power utility was experiencing high evening peaks of demand, which was typical of winter.
He said that should there be any further deterioration in the generation capacity, load shedding may be necessary, most likely between 5pm and 10pm, during the entire winter period.
Dawie Roodt, chief economist of the Efficient Group, said Eskom should come up with another form of saving power, stating that the power cuts from 5pm were not economically friendly.
He said the transport sector could be affected by these cuts, causing backlogs of cargo delivery.
Roodt said it was concerning that the power utility had said it may have to implement power cuts during the night peak period when electricity is most needed not only by communities but also by businesses.
“You need to provide electricity in such a manner that does not damage the economy, and that needs to be done strategically. If Eskom has generators that need to be repaired, they need to do that during off-peak hours, over the weekends or maybe around 11pm to the morning. The current load-shedding schedule happens at a time when there are more economic activities. Restaurants and other businesses are affected by this, while there are serious delays on the roads due to traffic caused by powerless robots,” he said.
He added that load shedding was one of the reasons why the country’s economy wasn’t growing at the speed that it is supposed to.
Another economist, Mike Schussler, said the power outages had resulted in more economic setbacks, especially during the pandemic.
According to Schussler, more than R30 million in the economy is lost in just an hour of load shedding during the current schedule.
“That amount may not be big compared to more than R42m lost when load shedding is implemented during the day. The undisputed fact is that for our economy to grow and compete, we need power and every hour counts.”
“Restaurants close early, people have to avoid shopping malls because they either have no lights or they will be stuck on the road due to dead traffic lights. From 5 to 8 in the evening is when most people need power for cooking, heaters, bathing, to get through traffic and other activities,” said Schussler.
Energy expert Ted Blom said Eskom had failed to ensure proper maintenance of their generators.
“They told us that they were going to refurbish the equipment and based on what I hear from contractors, they’re not doing that. That is why there are more breakdowns because they keep repairing rather than revamping the whole system. They are taking shortcuts.”
Blom said that at this stage it was hard to predict whether the level of load shedding may be increased, but that remained a possibility in winter.
THE MERCURY