Cape Town — Amid growing concern about job losses and slower growth, Eskom came under mounting pressure yesterday to get its act together to see SA and its economy through the power crisis - without compromising jobs or growth.

The power utility was also told in no uncertain terms to streamline its communications, so as to avoid causing confusion and alarm among foreign investors.

This comes a day after Eskom rocked the construction industry with another confusing notice, this time warning of delays in processing applications to supply new construction projects requiring more than 100kVA. The delays could threaten projects lined up as part of the state's multibillion-rand infrastructure drive.

In reply to questions in Parliament yesterday, President Thabo Mbeki conceded Eskom's announcement was "unfortunate".

He insisted the utility manage the power crisis -- largely the result of faster growth and state underinvestment in new generating capacity -- in such a way that jobs were not lost.

"We insist that we do everything we can to ensure that this does not impact negatively on economic growth and negatively in the sense of job losses. Eskom must handle this matter in a way which addresses those challenges," Mbeki said.

The government is under pressure, especially from its trade union allies, not to allow the power crisis to cause job losses, with the Congress of South African Trade Unions warning of a strike if a single job was lost.

Yesterday, the government relented in its insistence on drastic power saving in SA's crucial mining industry, saying power availability would be stepped up, from 90% to 95%.

Mbeki again apologised unreservedly for the crisis and said the cabinet took collective responsibility for the decisions taken over 14 years. He thanked South Africans for their resilience in dealing with the crisis.

Asked by Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Sandra Botha about Eskom's policy on new building developments, Mbeki said he would be "very, very concerned" if a decision by Eskom led to job losses.

The DA criticised Eskom's announcement and called for clarification on whether it had consulted on the "harmful effect" its "unilateral" action would have on the economy.

The African National Congress (ANC) also weighed into Eskom, saying the proposed delays undermined SA's growth effort. It said the delays were "irresponsible", and called on Eskom to reconsider its decision.

"Such delays could undermine efforts to grow the economy, and slow the rate of important capital investment," it said.

At a briefing yesterday after the cabinet had met, chief government spokesman Themba Maseko said the way Eskom was communicating strategic decisions on demand management was increasing confusion and uncertainty among investors.

He said the cabinet was concerned about Eskom's practice of making sudden announcements, and that the government would meet the utility to ensure it did not create confusion and contribute to public distress about the electricity crisis. Announcements should be properly co-ordinated within the organisation.

Where supply to a particular economic sector was to be limited, Eskom should engage with it to determine how its demand objectives could be managed rather than just making a sudden announcement, Maseko said. This was what was done with the mining industry, which made proposals on how to achieve the desired 10% reduction in consumption.

Maseko said the government was committed to working with mining and other industries to ensure the electricity shortage did not result in job losses.

The cabinet also resolved that "concrete steps should be taken by Eskom and municipalities to accelerate the maintenance of the electricity infrastructure to secure the distribution and transmission side of the electricity supply chain".

The property development industry was still in the dark about Eskom's new policy. Commercial property association Sapoa, whose 860 members include construction companies, developers and property owners, said on Wednesday that in general "there is a lack of co- ordination and communication on the electricity supply issue".

Sapoa CEO Neil Gopal said he had raised this issue with the Presidency on Wednesday and that the Presidency was "assisting to facilitate a high-level meeting between Eskom and Sapoa".

Mike Upton, CEO of Group Five, said his was a "big construction company which focuses on long- term projects" and was not "overly concerned" about a four to six month delay affecting its business.

But Upton said he was concerned about smaller developers and contractors, who would be "negatively affected". He said there could also be job losses.

Upton said such a delay would affect smaller developments because they had shorter lead times.

Big national projects and large-scale developments would have two to three years before they would require additional power.

He said this gave construction companies working on big projects more time to "take remedial action".

Patrick Flanagan, MD of developers Flanagan & Gerard, said the effects of a delay of four to six months in the provision of quotations by Eskom would depend on "each developer and project".

Flanagan said if a developer had a project that was "ready to go" for construction and did not have power, it would obviously have a "negative effect".

It all depended on how well they had done their homework and at what stage of development they had reached.

Bloomberg reported that SA's electricity consumption fell 1,2% in January from the same month a year earlier, the first decline in 21 months.

Electricity use slid to 19322 GWh in the month, Statistics SA said in a statement on its website yesterday. Power generation advanced 1,5% to 21215MW.

The decline in January was the biggest since July 2005, when electricity consumption slipped 2,5%.