- Chairman Cyril Ramaphosa has said he has asked Eskom to postpone the 18.65% rate increase.
- Earlier this month, the power company was granted the rate increase, amid prolonged bouts of load shedding.
- Ramaphosa was speaking in the Free State on Sunday.
Chairman Cyril Ramaphosa says he has asked Eskom not to implement the 18.65% rate increase due in April.
Ramaphosa was giving a closing speech at the ANC Free State provincial conference held at the Imvelo Safari lodge in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
SA’s national energy regulator Nersa had earlier this month allowed Eskom to increase its rate on April 1. The news came as the country suffers prolonged episodes of cargo loss.
The announcement prompted a large number of civil society organizations, citizens, small businesses, and opposition political parties to threaten legal action in an effort to ensure that charging cuts and hikes stopped.
Ramaphosa said: “I have told Eskom that they should consider stopping the increase in electricity prices, especially for now, while our people are struggling under high levels of load shedding.”
He reiterated that people were frustrated that their businesses were in jeopardy.
“Many people are reporting that their businesses are failing due to cargo loss,” Ramaphosa said. He added that the government has not been idle but has been doing everything possible to resolve the crisis.
“As I said in my address to the nation, we are about 6,000 megawatts short. We have been working very hard; we implemented an action plan that I announced last year in July, and the process of adding more capacity with various measures, whether it be renewable energy or even emergency power, has been underway,” Ramaphosa said.
ROLL-UP COVER | Eskom and cargo shedding news as it happens
Describing his administration’s commitments to address this crisis, Ramaphosa said the government was tackling the problem on many fronts.
“To reduce those stages of load shedding with the various interventions that we are implementing, the interventions that I announced in July are having an effect.
“Now we’re even making sure there’s enough diesel to power our two diesel power stations where we can get more power, more megawatts to feed into the system, while the power stations that were taken out for maintenance and repair come back one by one. one so that later we can have power,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa argued that Eskom’s historically inadequate maintenance and delayed investment in the construction of new power plants had led South Africa to reach an energy crisis that the country should never have faced.
“Eskom’s historical inadequate maintenance and delayed investment in the construction of new power plants is the main cause of why we are where we are.
“We have a cargo shedding, which is understandably angering the people of South Africa, frustrating the people of South Africa and is negatively impacting the livelihoods of our people, the health of our people, food production in our country and harming the economy,” Ramaphosa said.
He added that “it has been a combination of various issues that have led us to where we are.”
“What we are doing is addressing the problem, to reduce load shedding. We got to a point where we got to stage 6 load shedding, which is what has made our people very angry, and I understand that. I take it and say it should never have gotten to the point where it has, but now we’re working on it,” Ramaphosa said.
