SEC TO ROTATE ELECTRICITY USE

SEC MD Sengiphile Simelane (R) speaking during a press conference held the heaquarters yesterday. Next to him are Sifiso Dhlamini (l) and Meshack Kunene. (Pics: Mduduzi Mngomezulu)

MBABANE – The Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) will switch off power, on a rotational basis, in some parts of the country, as the company responds to an urgent notification from South African electricity supplier Eskom to minimise usage.

SEC Managing Director Sengiphile Simelane revealed that the company will embark on a load-shedding exercise  during a press conference held at the company’s headquarters yesterday. Present during the press conference were the company’s Corporate Communications Manager, Sifiso Dhlamini, General Manager Operations Ernest Mkhonta and Meshack Kunene,

Simelane said a load-shedding schedule will be publicised in the print and electronic media. He said SEC had received an urgent notification from Eskom to minimise its intake by 15 per cent. “SEC received an urgent notification from Eskom to reduce its intake by 15 per cent. They indicated that their generation facilities have been constrained as their coal stock was wet following the heavy rains in recent days and the coal is unusable at their thermal power plants,” Simelane said.

He said failure to minimise the electricity consumption by Swaziland would result in the collapse the network used to supply electricity in the South African Development Community (SADC) region. The Managing Director then pleaded with SEC customers to drastically reduce their power consumption daily between 5:30am to 10am and also between 5:30pm until 10pm.

SEC urged consumers to switch off all non-essential appliances to reduce the impact of rotational power cuts. “During this period, SEC calls on consumers to urgently switch off geysers, pool pumps, heaters, air- conditioners and all non-essential appliances throughout the day. Lights should be switched off in offices and workplaces when not in use.”

Simelane said customers are expected to adhere to these tips. Power cuts would be stopped if the necessary savings were made and the situation improved. Eskom provides 80 per cent of Swaziland’s electricity.

Eskom began rolling scheduled power blackouts in South Africa for the first time in six years after rain affected the state-owned utility’s coal supply.  “Seven days of continuous rain have affected our power stations in Mpumalanga and is still affecting coal mines,” Andrew Etzinger, a spokesman for Johannesburg-based Eskom, said in a telephone interview. “This is the worst since January 2008.”

The company, which supplies 95 per cent of South Africa’s electricity, is spending R500 billion (US$46.7 billion) to replace aging equipment and add plants to avoid a repeat of blackouts that affected homes, mines and factories for five days in January 2008. 

About 23 per cent of Eskom’s 42 500 megawatts of installed capacity has been out of service this year, according to Bloomberg calculations made using the company’s data.
The capacity deficit during peak use today will be about 3 500 megawatts, the worst since 2008, Etzinger said. Eskom declared its most recent emergency on February 20 after four generating units went down.

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