South Africa is the largest producer of electricity in Africa and is among the top seven utilities in the world in terms of generation capacity and among the top nine in terms of sales.
Eskom operates a number of notable power stations, including Kendal Power Station and Koeberg nuclear power station in the Cape Province, the only nuclear power plant in Africa. The company is divided into Generation, Transmission and Distribution divisions and together Eskom generates approximately 95% of electricity used in South Africa.
In January 2008 Eskom introduced "load shedding", planned rolling blackouts based on a rotating schedule, in periods where short supply threatens the integrity of the grid. Demand-side management has focused on encouraging consumers to conserve power during peak periods in order to reduce the incidence of load shedding.
In the latter months of 2007 South Africa started experiencing widespread rolling blackouts as supply fell behind demand, threatening to destabilize the national grid. With a reserve margin estimated at 8% or below, such "load shedding" is implemented whenever generating units are taken offline for maintenance, repairs or re-fueling (in the case of nuclear units).
It has been that part of the problem is related to the supply of coal to the coal-fired power plants.
Several other causes have been postulated, including skills shortages, Eskom, and increasing demand for electricity around the country.
It appears that the steps that Eskom took to maintain some of its plants, increase coal stock piles and improve plant performance has let to them suspending load shedding from May 2008 onwards.
As of February 2008 blackouts were temporarily halted due to reduced demand and maintenance stabilization. This drop in demand was caused by many of the country's mines shutting down or slowing to help alleviate the burden. However, regularly scheduled mandatory load shedding started in April 2008, to allow maintenance periods of power generators, and recovery of coal stockpiles before the winter, when electricity usage is expected to surge.
This entire situation is surrounded by controversy. Decision makers and leaders both in Eskom and in the government predicted in the late 1990s that Eskom would run out of power reserves by 2007 unless action was taken to prevent it.
There is also criticism that Eskom exports electricity to neighbouring African states when it doesn't have the capacity to meet South Africa's demand. Eskom, however, announced on January 20, 2008 that it had ceased to export power.
The government claims that the shortage caught them by surprise since the South African economy grew faster than expected. However, their target growth rate of 6% per annum was not reached from 1996 to 2004.
The above scenario is public knowledge and well known but what has not been mentioned is that Eskom intends increasing the price of electricity by more than 30%. The question is, will the average person and small business person be able to afford the price increase? Who can confirm that load shedding will not recur or come to your country if you are not a South African? Who can confirm how long the coal reserves will last and continue producing coal? The growth of the economy will certainly not stop but the demand for energy will remain a reality.
There is something you can do to help the shortage of energy. There is something you can do to save on the high price of electricity even if you have not been affected by load shedding in your country. You can save thousands of dollars by implementing cost effective “Home Made Energy” in your house and not be dependent on electricity entities for your home and business. A number of businesses in South Africa lost thousands of dollars on their businesses due to load shedding.
Are you willing to take that chance of losing your business due to electricity shortages? Check out this website to learn what you can do while there is still time.
Click Here!
Eskom operates a number of notable power stations, including Kendal Power Station and Koeberg nuclear power station in the Cape Province, the only nuclear power plant in Africa. The company is divided into Generation, Transmission and Distribution divisions and together Eskom generates approximately 95% of electricity used in South Africa.
In January 2008 Eskom introduced "load shedding", planned rolling blackouts based on a rotating schedule, in periods where short supply threatens the integrity of the grid. Demand-side management has focused on encouraging consumers to conserve power during peak periods in order to reduce the incidence of load shedding.
In the latter months of 2007 South Africa started experiencing widespread rolling blackouts as supply fell behind demand, threatening to destabilize the national grid. With a reserve margin estimated at 8% or below, such "load shedding" is implemented whenever generating units are taken offline for maintenance, repairs or re-fueling (in the case of nuclear units).
It has been that part of the problem is related to the supply of coal to the coal-fired power plants.
Several other causes have been postulated, including skills shortages, Eskom, and increasing demand for electricity around the country.
It appears that the steps that Eskom took to maintain some of its plants, increase coal stock piles and improve plant performance has let to them suspending load shedding from May 2008 onwards.
As of February 2008 blackouts were temporarily halted due to reduced demand and maintenance stabilization. This drop in demand was caused by many of the country's mines shutting down or slowing to help alleviate the burden. However, regularly scheduled mandatory load shedding started in April 2008, to allow maintenance periods of power generators, and recovery of coal stockpiles before the winter, when electricity usage is expected to surge.
This entire situation is surrounded by controversy. Decision makers and leaders both in Eskom and in the government predicted in the late 1990s that Eskom would run out of power reserves by 2007 unless action was taken to prevent it.
There is also criticism that Eskom exports electricity to neighbouring African states when it doesn't have the capacity to meet South Africa's demand. Eskom, however, announced on January 20, 2008 that it had ceased to export power.
The government claims that the shortage caught them by surprise since the South African economy grew faster than expected. However, their target growth rate of 6% per annum was not reached from 1996 to 2004.
The above scenario is public knowledge and well known but what has not been mentioned is that Eskom intends increasing the price of electricity by more than 30%. The question is, will the average person and small business person be able to afford the price increase? Who can confirm that load shedding will not recur or come to your country if you are not a South African? Who can confirm how long the coal reserves will last and continue producing coal? The growth of the economy will certainly not stop but the demand for energy will remain a reality.
There is something you can do to help the shortage of energy. There is something you can do to save on the high price of electricity even if you have not been affected by load shedding in your country. You can save thousands of dollars by implementing cost effective “Home Made Energy” in your house and not be dependent on electricity entities for your home and business. A number of businesses in South Africa lost thousands of dollars on their businesses due to load shedding.
Are you willing to take that chance of losing your business due to electricity shortages? Check out this website to learn what you can do while there is still time.
Click Here!
