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Yelland: Something seriously wrong at Eskom

Johannesburg - Energy expert Chris Yelland on Monday expressed concern that Eskom is continuing blackouts despite having accumulated further diesel supplies and pumped water for its hydro-electric capacities.

Yelland told Fin24 that there must be something seriously going at Eskom as the power utility implemented load shedding again on Monday.

"It is worrying that the blackouts continue despite Eskom accumulating more diesel supplies and pumped water for its hydro-electric capacities."

Talking to Fin24 ahead of the load shedding media briefing, Yelland said Eskom is losing credibility with its communications strategy. “They seem to always over promise and under deliver,” he said.

LIVE: Eskom load shedding briefing


"Eskom now have a severe credibility problem as a result of poor communication. At the end of the day people just want the facts,” he said.

Yelland, though, said that the situation “has to get worse before it gets better”.

He blamed the high level of unplanned outages on improper maintenance. Yelland said parts of the grid need to go offline for considerable amounts of time so that issues can be properly fixed, and to ensure greater long-term sustainability for the system.

“Unplanned outages are a euphemism for breakdowns,” Yelland told Fin24. “They're going to need to do more planned maintenance.”

“That's what has to happen to turn the situation around,” he said.

“I believe it is necessary for us to have increased levels of load shedding in order to turn around the situation in the long term,” Yelland said.

“In the next two years I hope we can turn around the unplanned outages."



* Read our full coverage on load shedding.

* Share your views via email about #loadshedding24


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