Eskom has denied accusations that it is deliberately deceiving the public on which load-shedding stages it is implementing.
This comes after energy advisor Ted Blom accused Eskom of lying about its load-shedding levels.
Speaking to the SABC, Blom said Eskom had implemented stage 6 load-shedding on Thursday night without informing the public.
He said official Eskom records show the power utility shed in excess of 5,600MW at around 18:30 on 3 September.
Under the current definition, this equates to stage 6 load-shedding, where between 5,000MW and 6,000MW is shed.
According to Blom, this data showed that Eskom implemented stage 6 load-shedding while people were under the impression that stage 4 load-shedding was in progress.
Blom accused Eskom of deliberately under-reporting the load-shedding stages for the past month.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with the new leadership – whether they want to deceive the public or whether it is a board policy that they have changed their categories,” he said.
He explained this lack of transparency from Eskom is causing confusion among South Africans who may be experiencing load-shedding when they do not expect it.
The table below shows the load-shedding information shared by Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha which Blom is referring to.
Eskom Load-Shedding Stages | |
Stage | What it means |
Stage 1 | Up to 1,000 MW of the national load to be shed |
Stage 2 | Up to 2,000 MW of the national load to be shed |
Stage 3 | Up to 3,000 MW of the national load to be shed |
Stage 4 | Up to 4,000 MW of the national load to be shed |
Stage 5 | Up to 5,000 MW of the national load to be shed |
Stage 6 | Up to 6,000 MW of the national load to be shed |
Stage 7 | Up to 7,000 MW of the national load to be shed |
Stage 8 | Up to 8,000 MW of the national load to be shed |
Eskom Load-Shedding Statistics | |
Date | Load-Shedding |
Wednesday | 5,359MW |
Thursday | 5,642MW |
Eskom explains
Mantshantsha confirmed he publishes regular statistics about Eskom’s performance during times of load-shedding.
“Those statistics show the amount of power produced and the amount of load-shedding,” Mantshantsha said.
He denied that the figures show that Eskom is deliberately deceiving the public on which load-shedding stages it is implementing.
“Ted Blom knows, or ought to know, that in terms of Nersa’s rule NRS 048-9 once Eskom declares Stage 4 load-shedding, it can request any major industrial customer to curtail up to 20% of load,” Mantshantsha said.
“This amounts to 1,200MW of demand that must be curtailed by industrial customers as part of the licenced load curtailment in terms.”
Load-shedding is what Eskom sheds from the public, and that is what Eskom announced at Stage 4 on Thursday.
Ted Blom interview
Sikonathi Mantshantsha interview
Sikonathi Mantshantsha load-shedding data
Evening Peak Feedback on 03/09/2020 at 18:39
Total demand: 33 638MW
Loadshedding: 5 642MW
Renewable Generation: 726MW (Wind 520MW, CSP 206MW)
Open Cycle Gas Turbines Not Utilised@Eskom_SA Available Generation: 30 251MW— SikonathiMantshantsh (@SikonathiM) September 3, 2020
Evening Peak Feedback
Total Peak Demand at 18:28 on 02/09/2020:
33 359MW
Loadshedding: 5 359MW
Number of @Eskom_SA Open Cycle Gas Turbines utilised: 9
Number of IPP OCGT’s Utilised: 6
Renewable Generation: 699MW (Wind 546MW, CSP 153MW)
Eskom Available Supply: 30 755MW— SikonathiMantshantsh (@SikonathiM) September 2, 2020