Ramokgopa: ‘Power cuts cost SA economy R1 billion a day’
The Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, expressed that load shedding costs the economy R1 billion a day.
The Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says he is working day and night to eradicate the problem of power outages as many machines that were being repaired in Kusile will be restored.
Today, the machine called Unit 4, which was shut down for 20 days for proper maintenance, returned. Ramokgopa said that Kusile will help South Africa to end the problem of power cuts.
ALSO READ: WATCH: Ramokgopa looking to secure solar panel supply [VIDEO]
WHAT DID RAMOKGOPA SAY?
“I don’t like that the electricity is cut off according to the sixth rule because this costs R1 billion a day in the country’s economy. That’s why I work hard with engineers and other highly experienced teams to repair machines so that they don’t die unexpectedly,” said Ramokgopa.
He said that they will ensure that the problem of sulfur dioxide, which pollutes the air and harms the environment, is solved in Kusile as they have asked for an extension of time to fix this by 15 months.
ALSO READ: Electricity Minister Ramokgopa reveals he’s not a junior minister
He concluded that by the end of November, all equipment in Kusile including Unit 4,3,1,2 and 5 will be operational.
The return of these machines will bring in 4,000MW of electricity, Ramokgopa said that this gas will help them a lot in ending the problem of power outages.
ALSO READ: Ramokgopa: Eskom will assist with Tshwane power outage
UPCOMING WEEK LOADSHEDDING STAGE
Power utility Eskom has announced stages 2 and 4 load shedding for the week ahead as a result of lower demand.
Due to further improvement in generation capacity, Stage 2 load shedding (previously communicated Stage 3 load shedding) will be implemented from 16:00 today until 16:00 on Monday.
ALSO READ: Major UPDATES coming to WhatsApp
Thereafter, Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 16:00 on Monday until 05:00 on Tuesday, followed by Stage 2 load shedding from 05:00 until 16:00.