South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, says when that country experiences load shedding, Zambia would equally be affected once any power importation deal is signed.
In a tweet on the official Eskom Twitter feed, Wednesday, the South African power utility announced that due to a shortage of capacity, load shedding would be implemented.
“Due to a shortage of capacity, stage 2 load shedding is to be implemented from 9am to 11pm today. Media statement with more details to follow,” read the tweet.
And in a follow-up interview with News Diggers! Eskom deputy spokesperson Dikatso Mothae said the Zambian government understood the risk of importing power from that country.
“We have not reached an agreement, you are aware of that. The agreement we are negotiating is on a non-firm basis, meaning that if a situation like today arises, then we need to load shed it. Then they understand that as well. They understand the risk. The current Eskom situation should be short-term due to a large number of units off at the same time,” Mothae said.
Asked if South Africa’s load shedding would affect Zambia once any prospective deal was signed, she responded in the affirmative.
“Yes. Everybody is affected by load shedding. All customers,” said Mothae.
Last week, Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) president Charles Milupi expressed doubt that the pending 300MW power importation deal between Zesco and Eskom would materialize because the South African power utility was equally facing power shortages.
“Let us make it very clear, buying power is not like buying potatoes or bags of maize. In the SADC region, there are certain areas which have deficit in power generation. There are certain areas which have surplus. Not so many countries that are generating thousands of mega watts are ready to ship on the market, that is point number one. Point number two; there has got to be a means of connection; it is not like you send vehicles to go and get power and come and put to your system. No! There has to be a connection,” said Milupi.
