Eskom starts power 'rationing'
13/03/2008 22:04  - (SA)  

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Johannesburg - Eskom is to begin with "pre-emptive load shedding" on March 31, chief executive Jacob Maroga said on Thursday.

These deliberate power cuts would last no more than two hours and would take place between 06:00 and 22:00.

"The system remains tight," he told reporters in Midrand.

Maroga said the parastatal was now in a "power rationing" phase of dealing with the power crisis.

This required residential customers to play their part in reducing demand, Maroga said.

"While the system has stabilised, we are concerned that we have not seen a significant reduction from commercial and residential consumers," he said.

Complete blackout

The parastatal hoped to save 3 000 megawatts of power by 2012 in order to avoid a "complete blackout".

This scenario would be "pretty dramatic" and it could take the country around two weeks to normalise.

"You cannot in detail assess the damage, but its going to be pretty dramatic," he said. If everyone contributed toward reducing their power consumption, this scenario would not unfold.

Maroga said the scheduled power cuts would affect those consumers who had not used electricity sparingly and would take place from March 31 to July 1.

Consumers would have to save 1 800 megawatts of power to minimise the chances of planned outages.

Price increase

The price of electricity in South Africa was also set to increase, Maroga confirmed.

"Prices in South Africa are much lower than the cost of producing electricity both currently and in bringing in new capacity," he said, addressing the media in Midrand at the Eskom convention centre.

"(It is the) stated intent... that prices should start reflecting the cost of making electricity."

The details of the price increases would emerge as the process was finalised, he said.

Maroga told reporters there was a "positive consequence" of the increase in tariffs.

"If prices go up that will also bring a change in behaviour... that is also a positive consequence of the prices going up."

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