South Africa’s Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has attributed the recent stability in the country’s electrical system to a combination of the government’s action plan and the power company’s efforts to restore capacity.
According to Prensa Latina, a partner of TV BRICS, Ramokgopa credited the “exceptional” work of Eskom, the national state-owned electricity provider, for the current success. He highlighted “phenomenal improvements in the unplanned power loss ratio” over the past week.
“We are starting to see the desired improvement,” Ramokgopa said. “We were at roughly 18,000 megawatts (MW) last March, and we are cutting them. For the week of April 8-12, we had an average of roughly 13,900 MW.”
While acknowledging the progress, Ramokgopa emphasized the need for continued efforts. “We want to maintain this level of unplanned losses, even reducing them to less than 13,000 MW, but this depends on sustained, organised, and focused efforts on the part of the power companies,” he stated.
The improvement in grid stability follows a period of crippling power cuts, known as load shedding, which have hampered South Africa’s economy. While progress has been made, the government remains focused on further reducing unplanned outages.
