Times Of Swaziland: DA WANTS ELECTRICITY SUPPLY TO SD STOPPED

DA WANTS ELECTRICITY SUPPLY TO SD STOPPED
================================================================================
 BY EUGENE DUBE  on 24/03/2014 04:22:00


MBABANE – South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance
wants electricity supply to Swaziland cut.
The Democratic Alliance has drafted a paper in which it wants electricity supply
to Swaziland and other countries cut off for the benefit of South Africans who
currently suffer load shedding.
Swaziland sources about 80 per cent of its power from South Africa through the
neighbouring country’s utility company Eskom.
The other 20 per cent is sourced from local hydro power stations in Luphohlo,
Maguga and Dwaleni.
The DA, through President Helen Zille said they would not be dissuaded by an
agreement that Swaziland has with South Africa known as the Preferential
Electricity Supply Agreement, which is valid untill 2024.
Presently, the Swaziland Electricity Company has announced that consumers should
cut down on electricity usage following unprecedented power supply cuts in SA.
In an Independent System and Market Operator (ISMO) Bill, which was completed by
a Parliamentary Committee recently and had still not been debated in the
National Assembly of SA Parliament, the DA is intent on removing the agreement.
The DA also wants parliamentary hearings into South Africa’s preferential
electricity supply agreements with neighbouring states.
South Africa regularly supplies power to Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and
Swaziland.
Eskom supplies 13 589 GWh of electricity to Southern African countries. Of this
quantity, approximately 800 GWh goes to Swaziland.
“There is no good reason why these agreements should not be put on hold or
cancelled responsibly, immediately to alleviate our current energy shortage. It
is unacceptable... that we continue to supply electricity to neighbouring
countries when we cannot supply our own country sufficiently,” DA MP Wilmot
James said.
James argued that the amount of electricity supplied to other countries could
have prevented the power outages experienced in SA two weeks ago.
The DA said load-shedding had a devastating effect on the economy, especially in
labour-intensive industries.
In 2008 the blackouts cost the neighbouring state an estimated R200 million per
day. The cost is likely to nearly double that amount today.