Eskom to punish Cape Town?

Eskom says it will serve legal notices to municipalities that are not complying with load shedding schedules, including the City of Cape Town.

The power utility also threatened to carry out compulsory load shedding if these entities continue to avoid complying with instructions.

Eskom has reported several big metros and other key industrial sites to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for action to be taken against them.

This was revealed by Eskom distribution executive Monde Bala and chief executive officer Andre de Ruyter when they gave the latest update on the state of load shedding in the country on Wednesday afternoon.

De Ruyter revealed that Eskom was ready to stop load shedding by 5am on Saturday, saying they’ve managed to recover several megawatts from its plants in the country.

But it was the conduct of several unnamed metros and other key industries which were giving the power utility a big headache.

Only eThekwini and Buffalo City metros complied fully, they said.

While he failed to disclose the defaulters, Bala did confirm that they would meet with the City of Cape Town regarding Steynsrus Power Plant’s ability to assist in the ease of the effects of load shedding in the metro.

The meeting came after DA leader John Steenhuisen, during his municipal elections campaign, said the City was able to lower stages of load shedding announced by Eskom.

“If Eskom introduces Stage 2 load shedding, the City of Cape Town announces stage 1 of load shedding,” he said.

But according to Bala, “Eskom has not seen the benefits of that”.

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