Ramokgopa attributes reduced load shedding to planned maintenance

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has attributed the current reduced levels of rolling blackouts to Eskom’s ramped-up planned maintenance and good management.

He was presenting the government’s Energy Action Plan at a media briefing in Pretoria as the country experienced 13 days without load shedding.

Ramokgopa says electricity supply is currently higher than demand, adding that planned maintenance allows for the accelerated sourcing of spares.

“We made the ramping up of planned maintenance very important. That’s why I made the point that if you look at the December period of 2023 going into January 2024, we took out 18% of the generation of energy capacity, about 9000MW at a go for planned maintenance…and we’re beginning to see that these machines are coming back into service. They’re coming back on load and they are adding to the capacity on the grid and this is helping us to address the demand.”

Media briefing on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan: