Up to 13 July, South Africa had lost 48 days, or 1 152 hours, of electricity usage in 2022 alone. In 2021 Eskom shed 2 521 Gigawatt hours in electricity whilstIn Phase 1 loadshedding, Eskom lost 168 GWh which equates to about R150 million. Thus, if Phase 4 is implemented for the entirety of a week, that is R600 million which Eskom did not receive.
“If I could offer one solution, it would be a plea to Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, to allow the private sector to play an increasingly bigger role in the electricity generating game. There is nothing better for South Africa than a decentralised electricity environment.” Schabort says that, by using this approach, a genuine difference to South Africa’s energy conundrum can be made in as little as 18 months.
“The solution to the problem of load shedding does not lie with Eskom. To sit back and wait for Eskom to resolve the problem is not going to happen. Eskom is one role player in the bigger picture. They are the most prominent, but that might not be the case in the future. Our hope of ending loadshedding lies with the private sector or, more specifically, Independent Power Producers .