Summary Electricity minister said summer could see no blackoutsCountry's power generation almost meeting demand, he saidWorst scenario of peak winter demand has not materialisedJOHANNESBURG, July 2 (Reuters) - South Africa's electricity minister said on Sunday the country was closer to ending daily power cuts as warmer weather returns towards the end of the year, but declined to give a specific date.
South Africa is on course to see its most blackout days in history this year with daily power cuts extending to almost 10 hours a day, affecting businesses and households in an economy already hobbled by high interest rates and inflation.
The power cuts, called loadshedding locally, is expected to shave off 2 percentage points from GDP this year, the central bank said last month.
The capacity available is plateauing around 29,000 MW, giving enough room to bring the power cuts down to Stage 3, where 3,000 MW are taken off the grid, leading to between two and fours hours of daily power cuts, the minister added.
South Africa implements power cuts in stages from one to eight with eight being the highest and translating into over 10 hours of daily power cuts.
Persons:
Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, Ramokgopa, Promit Mukherjee, Alison Williams
Organizations:
Electricity, Thomson
Locations:
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa