Government is searching for funds to buy diesel for Eskom, says public enterprises

The department of public enterprises is urgently working with National Treasury and Eskom to find the money to buy diesel supplies to reduce the higher load-shedding stages now in force.

The electricity utility warned about a shortage of diesel last week and said South Africans should expect more load-shedding in the coming months as it embarks on major repairs and capital investment projects that will increase the risk of outages.

On Sunday Eskom announced stage 5 load-shedding will be implemented during the evenings from 4pm until midnight from Monday to Wednesday and between stages 2 and 4 during the day.

The department said its minister, Pravin Gordhan, met Eskom board members led by chairperson Mpho Makwana on Sunday night as a result of serious concerns about the risk of higher levels of load-shedding in the coming months.

“All possible efforts are being made to ensure all the measures in the national electricity plan are implemented,” the department said.

Immediate targets include:

• Looking for savings within existing Eskom funds for the purchase of diesel and maintenance;
• Board assessment of the challenges Eskom faces in its fleet of power stations and the exceptional interventions that must be made to create more reliability in the their performance; and
• Urgently seeking the assistance of all law enforcement bodies to immediately stop local-level disruptions and criminal activities that affect power stations.

TimesLIVE