Home Automation. Energy Crisis

Johannesburg - Eskom is to suspend scheduled load shedding from Monday, May 5, said the utility's chief executive officer Jacob Maroga on Wednesday.

He said: "We are seeing evidence of increased energy savings from municipalities and Eskom is optimistic that further reductions to reach our 10% savings target are possible."

Scheduled power cuts already have been suspended for this week due to the number of public holidays grouped together and the lower demand typically experienced during such times.

A team of senior Eskom executives and top officials of municipalities from around South Africa is to meet early next week to discuss the way forward in driving further energy savings to meet the national target.

This meeting is a further follow-up to the formation of the team on April 18.

Hoping target will be met

Maroga said: "We have said from the beginning that load shedding is not our preferred option to achieve the 10% savings the nation needs.

"Recent savings, particularly from industry, have shown that it should be possible to achieve this objective sustainably through a concerted and committed effort by all of us,".

"This is the spirit of Eskom's engagement with municipalities and we hope that the 10% target will be met so that it will not be necessary to reinstate scheduled load shedding," he said.

However Eskom warned that if the national grid came under unexpected pressure, there might be occasions where brief periods of power cuts could be required.