Ramokgopa criticises vacant government buildings for excessive energy consumption

Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has called on government to set an example by reducing electricity use at night.

Ramokgopa briefed the media this week on progress regarding load-shedding.

“Some buildings complicit for consuming energy at night when there is no-one in the office are government buildings, and that is why minister [of public works Sihle] Zikalala is taking action to address that. The state must lead by example,” he said.

Ramokgopa said those working in government buildings should switch off unused appliances.

“Through simple action we can reduce load-shedding while saving on energy bills. It is important we bring this to the attention of South Africans. We are sometimes at a stage where we should not have load-shedding but we draw from the grid even in instances when we don’t have to,” he said.

Ramokgopa said Gauteng and Mpumalanga are two provinces with sufficient grid capacity.

“There are two provinces where we have a significant amount of capacity available. Eskom was very deliberate about directing the market to areas where there is grid capacity so there is symmetry between grid capacity and opportunity to exploit renewables.”

Last week Ramokgopa said 25 projects to fix Eskom's load-shedding issues were in construction. Projects were under way to upgrade Eskom's infrastructure in the areas of generation and transmission.

“The 25 projects can unleash about 13 gigawatts of electricity into the grid. The work starts now to be connected by 2026 to ensure there is additional capacity. We need to ensure we expedite the projects and bring them online quicker so we can expand grid capacity,” said Ramokgopa.

“These are the twin challenges [generation and transmission] we are facing at the moment and we must resolve to address load-shedding. Of course the issue of distribution must also receive attention.”

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