If Eskom cuts off power to non-payers, there will likely be no need for load shedding. The power company said 30% of its generating capacity is currently stolen or unpaid. This 30% is more than the deficit that leads to load shedding. Eskom calls these non-technical losses. It explains: “Non-technical losses refer to electricity theft, non-payment by customers, etc.” This is about 13,500 megawatts out of a total of about 45,000 megawatts of generating capacity. When Eskom succeeded in collecting unpaid bills and disconnecting illegal connections, 4,000…
If Eskom cuts off power to non-payers, there will likely be no need for load shedding. The power company said 30% of its generating capacity is currently stolen or unpaid. This 30% is more than the deficit that leads to load shedding. Eskom calls it non-technical losses.
It explains: “Non-technical losses refer to electricity theft, non-payment by customers, etc.”
This is about 13,500 megawatts out of a total of about 45,000 megawatts of generating capacity. If Eskom succeeds in collecting unpaid bills and stopping illegal connections, the 4,000 megawatts that are removed from the grid when stage 4 load shedding can be buffered threefold through utility adoption, saving businesses, industry and households billions of rands. losses.
READ ALSO: Eskom piles on misery as Stage 4 load shedding continues
James Brent-Stian, author of Eskom’s explosive exposé, Blackout – The Eskom Crisis, said: “The latest non-technical loss figures reported are of great concern and show a multi-fold increase over the past 10 years, where previously it was lower. 10%.
“The only answer to solving non-technical losses and municipal debt is political will at the national government level. Unfortunately, calls to address this issue have fallen on deaf ears for more than a decade.
“The municipal debt to Eskom, which currently stands at 50 billion rand, is completely unsustainable and the utility is insolvent in all material respects.
“We have no money to solve our electricity problems. If it is not resolved [chief executive André] De Reiter’s plans are doomed to fail.”
But the refund is unlikely to materialise, said Wayne Davenage of the Organization Against Tax Abuse (Outa).
“Attempts to collect debt and exclude bad individual payers or municipalities have not led to zero,” he said.
“I guess every time they might want to blackmail defaulters, there’s a tap on the shoulder reminding Eskom of the number of votes it could cost the ruling party.”
“Eskom has only two options”
Eskom’s total debt is about 400 billion rand. Interest payments alone amount to about 30 billion rubles annually.
Brent-Stian added: “Eskom has only two options: get debt relief from the national government or introduce a significant increase in user tariffs.”
Each stage of unloading costs the economy about 500 million rand per day per stage. This means that a week of phase 4 load shedding costs the country R14 billion. After 14 years of load shedding, it totals almost a trillion rand, nearly 1.5 trillion rand stolen from the national treasury in the past five years, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last year.
Cape Town has successfully reduced its dependence on Eskom. Currently, this is saving the city as it is one step behind the rest of the country in blackouts. Cape Town installed its own hydroelectric power plant at Stanbrass Dam.
Mayor Jordyn Hill-Lewis has appointed a task force to take further action. It’s not the only city looking for greener pastures in many senses of the word. Cape Town is focusing on renewable energy sources and the Ekurhuleni Metro has identified 49 potential micro-suppliers to supplement the local grid.
Ekurhuleni started its project at home and is currently rolling out the project to mass produce solar energy in all public buildings. It plans to significantly reduce its dependence on Eskom.
The Democratic Alliance’s shadow MMC for water, energy and sanitation in Ekurhuleni, Simon Lapping, said: “The town expects the first electricity from an independent supplier to be connected to the system by the end of the year, early next year.
READ ALSO: “We will see progress soon,” Ramaphosa says of fixing Eskom as SA struggles load shedding
“We are also going to offer a feed-back scheme where companies and homeowners who are already using alternative energy sources, such as solar, feed excess electricity back into the grid for a financial benefit.”
The idea makes sense, but would require a ton of legislation.
Joburg Mayor Mpho Falatse said in May that the city is also determined to start generating its own electricity. Several banks have also created products that allow citizens to borrow money to get off the grid.
– news@citizen.co.za
