Eskom: Hang in there for another year

Johannesburg - The power system will remain tight until the Medupi and Kusile power stations start producing power, in over a year, Eskom says.

"Power supply will ease once Kusile and Medupi are online and producing power... and that will take between 12 and 18 months," chief executive Tshediso Matona told reporters in Johannesburg.

Medupi, in Limpopo, was expected to be online by 24 December.

"We may not meet the target and could see Medupi coming online in early January. We expect to see full power production from Medupi within six months thereafter."

Work on getting the Majuba station in Mpumalanga to full capacity was continuing.

Second crack at Majuba

"An average of 1 800MW is being fed to the national grid per day. Following the collapse of a silo, five units are running fully," he said.

Majuba was able to generate 2 900MW during peak periods, he said.

Eskom group executive Matshela Koko said he led an investigation into the collapse of the Majuba silo.

"Majuba is urgent... yes, we had a second crack at Majuba and we will soon take the public into our confidence," Koko said.

Matona said the blackouts were also affecting customers in neighbouring countries.

"There is a perception that we load shed but continue supplying neighbours with electricity. That is not so, cross-border customers are also affected."