Electricity supply vulnerable for at least two years

Large swathes of the country were without power yesterday as Eskom began "rotational load-shedding" for the first time in six years.

Despite repeated appeals in recent months to users to conserve electricity - and the declaration, in the same period, of three previous power emergencies that affected major industrial users - the blackouts yesterday came as a nasty shock to consumers and business alike.

Load-shedding schedules published by some local authorities - cuts were supposed to last two hours on average - were confusing or inaccurate.

Even more worrying is that we don't know when the power crunch will end.

As in 2008, when the country was rocked by protracted blackouts that damaged the economy - not to mention the country's reputation as a secure investment destination - blame has been placed on heavy rains that made coal stockpiles unusable.

Weather forecasters expect wet conditions to continue for the next week in Mpumalanga, North West, Limpopo, Gauteng and Free State. As winter approaches the rains will ease, but power usage is expected to escalate during the cold months.

Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa's suggestion yesterday that the latest round of load-shedding did not represent a crisis is laughable.

Big business, which has been asked to reduce electricity consumption by 10% during each emergency, has paid a heavy price and, in the long run, our sluggish economic growth will be further retarded as power shortages persist.

One would have thought that after the 2008 crisis Eskom would have put in place contingency plans to purchase coal from collieries in areas not affected by the rain.

In truth, our power supply will be vulnerable until at least the end of next year.

Protracted construction and labour-related delays at the 4800MW Medupi power plant in Limpopo and essential maintenance of existing power stations will guarantee that.