CAPE TOWN – Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said Eskom has the funds for diesel and is not sitting with a “money problem”.
Ramokgopa was answering questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday and gave more assurances that they’re not far from ending load shedding.
He said Eskom has ring-fenced R30 billion for the purchase of diesel to help keep the lights on during the recent Stage 6 load shedding.
This after he was asked whether the high levels of load shedding meant Eskom was running out of funds for diesel.
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Ramokgopa said Treasury has allocated the ailing power utility R254 billion to address liquidity challenges, alongside the R30 billion for diesel.
“During the winter period of April to the end of July we underspent relative to our projections, so you are not sitting with a money problem.”
He said Stage 6 load shedding was because of “triple maintenance”.
“The reason why you had stage six load shedding was as a result of our efforts to ensure that we triple the maintenance of the power stations.”
Ramokgopa said Eskom will bring on stream an additional 3,200 megawatts in the next three months and will be able to resolve load shedding.