Rolling blackouts makes business aware of Eskom calamity
THE only good thing about the new round of rolling blackouts is that it has made the public aware of the extent of the Eskom calamity, says the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"For the last few years it has been the mines and industry that have been forced to cut their power usage so that the lights could be kept on for the rest of us," said Mr Peter Haylett, chairman of the Chamber's Industrial Focus portfolio committee. "This concealed the true extent of the problem from the public."
Eskom's failure to supply enough power had been like a brake on industry.
"We've heard the wet coal story before and it turned out that the real problem was that Eskom's stockpile of coal had been allowed to run down to just a few days. The rain was just the last straw."
After the rolling black-outs of 2007/2008, Eskom undertook to build up its stockpile so that it had reserves to last more than a month, enough to see it through any rainy season."