The government has succeeded in dealing with the immediate power crisis, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said on Monday.
Briefing the media in Pretoria on the national emergency response plan, Mpahlwa said supply and demand interventions had been developed and were currently being implemented.
”Government has succeeded in responding to the immediate electricity emergency with institutional structures in place.”
On the supply side, there had been a reduction in unplanned maintenance and Eskom’s coal stockpiles had been increased from just less that 13 days in January to 19,8 days in June.
The stockpiles would enable consumers to deal with the unplanned power cuts which had ”caught up” with the country in the beginning of the year.
There has also been improvements in reducing demand.
Mpahlwa said aggressive energy efficiency programmes in government and state-owned buildings had been put in place and nationwide efficiency programmes and power-saving awareness could also be seen.
”[But] we still need to do more on the residential front with regards to power saving.”
Power saving targets also still needed to be locked in and the logistical challenges of coal transportation still needed to be overcome, said Mpahlwa. – Sapa