Eskom Group Chief Executive, André de Ruyter, replies to CEO of SEIFSA open letter to Eskom
Dear Mr Trentini
LOAD SHEDDING AND ITS IMPACT ON THE METALS AND ENGINEERING SECTOR
Eskom acknowledges your letter dated 23 November 2021.
The contribution of the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA) to the employment and economy of the country is acknowledged. Eskom has had a good relationship spanning over many years with the key industrial customers represented by your federation, and such industries have always complied with the NRS 048-9 agreement to curtail load whenever Eskom declared a power system emergency.
While Eskom regrets the electricity supply interruptions in the past weeks, it is important for SEIFSA to understand that load shedding is the last resort in the management of the power system. This is to protect and prevent the power system from collapsing or even having a black-out.
Eskom forecasts potential load shedding based on the maintenance plan and an assumed amount of unplanned unavailable generation capacity; 11 000 MW in the winter and 12 000 MW in the summer months (the base case). Eskom then adds two risk scenarios by adding an additional 1 000 MW and 2 000 MW to this assumption.
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