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South Africa: Electricity Exports On the Up Despite Power Crisis
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
8 May 2008
Posted to the web 8 May 2008
Siseko Njobeni
Johannesburg
SA 's ELECTRICITY exports increased 6,1% in the three months to March this year, compared with the same period last year, according to Statistics SA.
Eskom, which generates 95% of the electricity produced in S A , has come under fire for continuing to export electricity at a time when the country is faced with unprecedented power shortages.
To make matters worse, electricity imports in the first three months of this year were down 22,4%, compared with the same period last year.
Statistics SA said power consumption in March fell 3,2%, compared with last year. The estimated volume of electricity consumed in the three months to March was down 0,9%, compared with last year. The decreases were below the 10% savings that Eskom wants taken out of the national grid.
Electricity production in March this year fell by 2%, compared with the same period last year. Eskom reported a decrease in production of 2,4%. In the three months to March, electricity production was up by 0,5%, compared with last year.
Yesterday, the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality said its consumers had not saved enough power during the scheduled load shedding, which Eskom recently suspended. The municipality's head of electricity, Sandile Maphumulo, said they were on standby in the event of Eskom's requiring emergency load shedding. "The suspension of load shedding does not mean that we are off the hook. We need to reduce by 10%. Durban is still not saving enough," said Maphumulo .
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Other municipalities said this week they were still calculating the savings achieved during load shedding.
A task team, set up last month to "fast-track interventions to reduce electricity consumption by the required 10%", and that includes Eskom senior executives and municipal officials, met on Tuesday. The contents and outcome of the discussions are yet to be made public.
This follows Eskom's decision last week to suspend load shedding, saying it had seen an improvement in municipal savings. The utility said it would resume the practice should the grid come under "unexpected" pressure.
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