Public works and infrastructure minister Patricia de Lille says the government must lead by example to reduce electricity demand while load-shedding continues.
The public works and infrastructure department this week called on stakeholders and members of the public to comment on the expanded public works programme, one of the government’s strategies to alleviate poverty by creating work opportunities using labour-intensive methods.
Speaking on eNCA, De Lille said the state should lead by example by reducing demand in government-owned buildings.
“It is like you when you have a drought situation and you have a limited amount of water. Here we have a limited amount of electricity. It will help if you reduce the demand for power,” said De Lille.
She said for the country to lower demand, everyone should play their part.
“Some people don’t have access to electricity. We are all in this together, both the public and private sectors.
“If you can do your bit from a community level, in the private sector level and government, we must all do it together to help to reduce demand until we are out of this crisis.”
Load-shedding to continue this week
Eskom said load-shedding will continue at stage 5, with the possibility of dropping to lower levels by Thursday.
The power utility said it has 4,098MW on planned maintenance and 17,121MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
“Since Monday afternoon, four generation units at four power stations were taken offline for emergency repairs. These are generating units at the Arnot, Lethabo, Kendal and Majuba power stations.
“Seven units returned to service at Camden, Kendal, Kriel, Kusile, Lethabo and Majuba power stations,” it said.
Eskom apologised for continued load-shedding, reiterating it is implemented as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.
“While some generation units are anticipated to return to service, it is necessary to continue stage 5 load-shedding to limit use of the emergency generation reserves. The emergency generation reserves are severely constrained by extensive utilisation to supplement generation capacity.”
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