Sonjica says no to daylight savings

Having indicated in previous answers to parliamentary questions that the Department of Minerals and Energy was considering the possible impact of introducing daylight-savings time (DST), Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica has now said that it is not on the agenda.

Giving a written reply to another question, this time from Lance Greyling of the Independent Democrats, the minister said on Monday that the department was not investigating it.

“Studies conducted as far back as the 1980s by CSIR [the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research] and more recently Eskom conclude that there will not be any significant impact on the energy consumption, either in the reduction on the peak demand or reduction on the base-load power stations, as a result of introduction of daylight savings,” she said. “The available evidence from the two studies is conclusive on the fact that South Africa will not gain from the introduction of daylight saving.”—I-Net Bridge