Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says his department has made progress in reducing rolling blackouts. He gave an update on the latest on the energy crisis in the country.

South Africans have been questioning how the country has moved from a critical need for power outages to a sudden absence of rolling blackouts within a few weeks. Ramokgopa says they share the pain and frustrations of the public.

The country is currently experiencing stage three power cuts in the evenings.

He says they are intending to reduce electricity demand by 1 000 megawatts in the next six months.

Ramokgopa says more than R200 billion is needed to finance the transmission infrastructure to strengthen the country’s power grid.

During his Budget Speech in February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced a debt relief package for Eskom, amounting to R254 billion over the next three years.

Fewer breakdowns

Meanwhile, Eskom says fewer breakdowns and less demand are the reasons for the lower rate of rolling blackouts recently.

Eskom generation executive Eric Shunmagum says there had been a 3 000 megawatts improvement.

Source: SABC News