Eskom Struggling To Meet Energy Demand In South Africa

Zimbabweans have been following news regarding the electricity situation with bated breath as the country has been plunged into darkness. Though there has been some positivity regarding the situation due to a recent payment, it seems ESKOM itself is facing some challenges of its own.

According to MyBroadband, Eskom is also struggling to meet demand, though there is currently no risk of load-shedding. It doesn’t seem to be a long-term thing, however, as the report states that there is “a shortage of capacity to meet the demand today”.

President Ramaphosa recently met with our own Mnangagwa and his statement after seemed to suggest that negotiations between Eskom and ZESA would continue.

Back in April, Eskom pledged that there would no longer have load-shedding and they had a winter-plan in place to ensure South Africa would go through winter without losing power. Their neighbours ZESA had no such plans and with water levels in Kariba devastatingly low, productivity has plummeted with 15-17 hour load shedding schedules.

It’s not clear how exporting power to Zimbabwe would affect Eskom’s winter load shedding plan but one would expect that would put some strain on them, which could make negotiations with ZESA -who don’t have track record of paying their debts timely- more difficult.

Also read, FAQ, ZESA Addresses Some Questions Around Load Shedding