South Africa’s state-owned power utility is escalating rolling blackouts, after a breakdown in a generation unit at Duvha Power Station, and delays in returning units to service added to current capacity constraints.
Breakdowns are currently at 16,486 megawatts of generating capacity, while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 3,817 megawatts.
Eskom will cut 4,000 megawatts of power from 4 p.m. Sunday until 5 a.m. on Monday. The utility will scale back the power cutsto 3,000 megawatts until 4 p.m., before escalating the blackouts to 5,000 megawatts until 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
Eskom Latest: Pharmacy Group Spends $4.7 Million on Diesel; Jobs (May 19, )8:34 a.m.)
South African pharmacy chain Dis-Chem Pharmacies Ltd. spent 91 million rand ($4.7 million) on diesel to run generators and keep its stores open in the year through March.
The company is among a growing number of businesses that are being forced to find alternative sources of power as the state electricity utility implements daily blackouts because it’s unable to meet demand. While Dischem’s early investment in generator capacity resulted in minimal disruption to its ability to trade, it increased spending on diesel by 65% from the previous year, according to a statement published on Friday.
Dis-Chem reported a 17% increase in annual net income to 1 billion rand, missing the consensus estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The “unavoidable increase” in operational costs to minimize the impact of power cuts will continue to affect earnings, it said.
Read more: Dis-Chem FY Net Income Misses Estimates
More Than 300,000 Jobs Lost in Gauteng Province (May 18, 9 a.m.)
South Africa’s Gauteng province lost 302,893 job opportunities because of power cuts, Beeld reported, citing the region’s member of the executive committee for economic development, Tasneem Motara.
The data was provided in response to questions by the opposition Democratic Alliance about the damage caused by outages to the economy of the country’s most-populous province, according to the Johannesburg-based newspaper. Last week, the Sunday Times cited Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa saying South Africa is set to lose more than 850,000 jobs because of the energy crisis.
South Africa’s Eskom Sees Worst-Case Scenario of Stage 8 Outages (May 18, 08:39 a.m.)
Eskom refuted claims that the country is at imminent risk of grid collapse even as it forecasts a risk of of record power outages this winter because the state electricity company may not have enough supply to meet increased demand and efforts to increase generation face delays.
The country faces a “difficult winter” as it heads into the cold months with 3,000 megawatts less capacity than last year, the utility’s acting Chief Executive Officer Calib Cassim told reporters on Thursday. Eskom envisages a worst-case scenario of having to cut 8,000 megawatts from the electricity grid — a process known locally as loadshedding — which would entail 16 hours of outages in a 32-hour cycle.
South African Minister Gordhan Hits Back at Former Eskom CEO (May 17, 1:38 p.m.)
South African Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, who oversees state power company Eskom, hit back at allegations by its former Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter that he had undermined the utility’s management and hampered efforts to end an ongoing energy crisis.
In his book ‘Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom’ published this week, De Ruyter said Gordhan would bypass senior managers to verify information with lower-level Eskom employees and sought to micromanage the utility. He also accused the minister of failing to take cognizance of the challenges management faced as result of the government’s tardiness in approving new generation projects and tackling rampant corruption.
Read more: South African Minister Gordhan Hits Back at Former Eskom CEO