Power cuts: Vasbyt 'til Monday
2006-02-22 23:17
Cape Town - Eskom moved the goalposts yet again on Wednesday in the power debacle in the Western Cape and the continuing power outages will now drag on until Monday.
But, Die Burger learned reliably that the problems would not be fully resolved by Monday, but only by Wednesday next week.
Premier Ebrahim Rasool's appeal to Capetonians on Wednesday was: "Hang on."
Eskom chief executive Thulani Gcabashe said on Wednesday they hoped to have Koeberg's Unit 2 running again by Friday.
After that, it would take about 31 hours before it could provide 100% power again.
The power cuts will hit the city's industries particularly hard now.
City council electricity director Les Recontre said controlled power interruptions would now occur in certain parts of the industrial areas, such as Epping, Paarden Island and Maitland from 07:00 to 09:30 and from 14:30 to 17:00.
Takes days to hit full strength
An informed source close to Eskom in Johannesburg told Die Burger the interruptions would not be resolved on Monday.
Koeberg's Unit 2 would be synchronised with the national power grid only at the weekend.
Then, it would take two to three days to get the unit up to full strength.
The Western Cape's power problems were expected to improve only by Wednesday.
"But, the unit may cut out again next week because of Eskom's problems with power stations in Mpumalanga.
"At least 20% of Eskom's power stations are now out of order.
'No power for the Western Cape'
"These power stations could still generate 6 000MW of power for the national grid, but, because of technical problems, they can't generate this amount of power.
Eskom has to provide 30 000MW to the country in peak periods. There is simply no power for the Western Cape."
Eskom national spokesperson Fani Zulu said on Wednesday by phone that these facts were wrong.
Zulu said the Western Cape depended on power from Mpumalanga. The province needed between 3 500MW and 3 900MW.
At present, the overhead powerlines could transmit only 2 900MW safely to the Western Cape.
City council manager of public lighting Charles Kadalie said things did not look good for the city.
Phone numbers not working, either
"We don't know any more. We now rely on Eskom to hear when the power crisis will be solved.
"Eskom said at the weekend it would be under control by yesterday (Wednesday). On Tuesday, we were told 'by Saturday' and now it will be Monday," he said.
He added that the telephone numbers the public could call for enquiries were not working either.
The firm that maintained the phone lines had not synchronised the lines with those of the electricity department.
Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (AHI) chairperson Fanie Bekker railed against the city council on Wednesday.
He said economic losses already amounted to many millions of rands.
Workers go on strike
"The city council doesn't inform businesses of the times when interruptions will occur."
The power cuts also are leading to conflict between employers and workers.
About 500 workers at a clothing factory in Athlone went on strike on Wednesday because they were not paid for the time they had to wait until the power came on again.
Good news for rugby fans is that the Stormers' Super 14 match is going ahead on Friday night.
Provincial minister of health Pierre Uys said services at hospitals were continuing normally.