Load shedding reminds me of that famous scene from The Godfather: Part III, when Michael Corleone says “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”

I guess we also have gangsters to blame for our current predicament, although ours were voted into power.

Yesterday, Eskom announced that we are on the brink of load shedding once more, and we really do mean the brink.

This from BusinessLIVE:

An acceleration in economic growth in SA could trigger power cuts, with Eskom’s fragile generation system unable to respond to increased demand for electricity.

The energy availability of Eskom’s generation fleet is supposed to be as high as 80%, but is currently as low as 69%, and even a 0.1% rise in GDP could result in outages, Nelisiwe Magubane, an Eskom board member, said at an event organised by Afriforesight in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

A 0,1% rise in GDP and bang, we are back to checking apps like the aptly named EskomSePush to see when next the lights go out. When that new CEO is chosen, they’re going to have quite a job on their hands.

Improve the GDP and the country is then plunged into darkness, economic growth suffers, GDP drops, and the lights come back on – it’s a vicious cycle.

Also, it appears that Eskom is trying to rebrand load shedding as ‘outages’.

Mike Rossouw, an independent energy adviser, backs up Magubane’s statements:

“We haven’t seen load shedding because demand is going south…If demand picks up tomorrow, you will see load shedding every day.”

Good times.

Not to get too down in the dumps this early in the day, with the weekend almost within touching distance, but here are a few more numbers via the Citizen:

The utility now produces less power than it did in the past, and has seen a demand for its product steadily reducing, which its most recent outgoing CEO called a “death spiral”.

Outgoing Eskom group CEO Phakamani Hadebe [below] last month painted a grim picture of Eskom’s past, present and future following newly appointed acting CEO Jabu Mabuza’s announcement that the struggling energy utility incurred a whopping R20.7 billion net loss after tax for the financial year ended March 31.

In his last media briefing, Hadebe offered several excuses for Eskom’s precarious position, which Mabuza, who spoke before him, stressed should not be seen as a reflection on Hadebe’s tenure.

“The rate of increasing cost has always been ahead of revenue, which subsequently left a hole,” Hadebe said.

“The crux of the matter became clear that if government had to give us R100 billion, in a few years’ time we would be back to where we were.”

Yet another state-owned enterprise where giving bailouts is basically akin to pissing money against the wall.

Again, the weekend is just around the corner, so let’s ride that wave for now.

[sources:businesslive&citizen]