Australians Outraged by Hour-Long Power Cut While South Africans Could Face a Winter of Stage 1 Loadshedding

While the South African government says it is doing all it can to keep the lights on, and admitting that “only” Stage 1 load shedding is anticipated for the busier winter season, Australians have freaked out over just an hour of power cuts tonight and demanded better service.

South African expat Stephen Kramer, who now lives in Perth, told SAPeople: “‎Shock and horror in Australia tonight! There was a blackout for 60 minutes. The crews were repairing the lines within 20 minutes, and electricity was restored within an hour.

“This was headline news, with interviews with shaken people, who said things like “I was worried that the shirts were going to be all wrinkly”, and “I was terrified there would no coffee”. Different world eh?”

The massive power outage was caused by a truck hitting an electricity network, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. At least 27,000 homes in Perth lost their electricity, as well as businesses, schools and one of the city’s biggest hospitals. Fortunately their backup generators were engaged.

Eskom Signs $1.8 million loan agreement

On Monday Eskom secured a $180 million loan, which will be used to expand South Africa’s renewable energy efforts.

The New Development Bank (NDB) and Eskom signed a loan agreement for Renewable Energy Integration and Transmission Augmentation Project.

Under the agreement, the NDB will provide a loan with sovereign guarantee to the power utility.

South African government considering more financial support for Eskom

The highest levels of South Africa’s government are giving “serious consideration” to a variety of additional financial support measures for Eskom, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters at Eskom’s Lethabo power station in the Free State he said: “Once we have finessed the package, we will let you know either before the election (in May) or soon thereafter.”

Gordhan said as the colder weather settles in, South Africans should anticipate not more than Stage 1 load shedding up until the end of August.

The Minister apologised to the country, including business, for the impact of the recent spate of load shedding incidents which saw the country experience Stage 4 power cuts last month.

“We have as our aim that there should be no load shedding from here onwards, but that is an aim, to get to that aim we must execute our plans at 110%. If there is load shedding at the most you will see Stage 1 load shedding between now and at least the end of August,” said the Minister.

Arising from work done in Eskom, Gordhan said the Technical Review Team has made preliminary observations. The team, which he appointed, began its work in mid-March and is yet to complete its work.

“We can demonstrate that we have a winter plan,” he said, adding that the utility considers the winter period to start on 1 May.

“An important culture change needs to happen in Eskom where increased levels of accountability and consequence management will be key,” he said.

Speaking on the utility’s objectives for the rest of the year, Gordhan highlighted the importance of being transparent and frank with South Africans. “We are very apologetic for where we find ourselves,” he said, adding that he believes there is now a clear roadmap for the future both in the short and medium term.

Eskom board chair Jabu Mabuza said the utility has been able to improve its coal stock piles while restructuring of the business continues. In addition, the power utility had also experienced diesel supply challenges.

Regarding the restructuring of the power utility, Eskom is looking at other staffing solutions rather than job losses. In President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) last month, he announced government’s plan to split the utility into three divisions. He has said there should be no job losses.

On the issue of the utility’s build programme which relates to the Medupi and Kusile power plants located in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, Mabuza said design problems at the plants will be fixed.

Sources include Sydney Morning Herald, SANews and Reuters (Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Kirsten Donovan/Reuters and Jenni Baxter/SAPeople)