Ramokgopa praises Eskom’s performance but remains cautious

Johnathan Paoli

Energy and Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has tentatively welcomed the good performance of state power utility Eskom, but said the country was “not out of the woods yet”.

Ramokgopa was briefing the media on Monday and said in a feat last achieved over four years ago the country has been without load shedding for over 130 days.

“Eskom CEO Dan Marokane and the Eskom team have done exceptionally well. Over the past week of July 22, Eskom has averaged an Energy Availability Factor of 70%, the rate at which these units are failing and also the degree to which they approximate their design capacity,” he said.

The minister said during the same period last year, the country was in the grip of load shedding, with an EAF of 55% and reminded the public of the need for “short term pain for long term gain”, and how it has