According to reports, Eskom released a statement on Monday evening confirming that they have only 20 days of coal supply left at 10 of it’s 15 coal-fired power stations, 4 of which has less than 10 days of reserves. This poses a huge risk to the power grid and national power supply.
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This comes after Tegeta Resources and Exploration, one of Eskom’s major suppliers of coal has cut supplies following their bid to seek insolvency protection.
“Management has done relatively well in trying to keep the system alive. But it is not an ideal situation, I have to confirm. Remember we’re running a fleet of 15 coal-fired stations and out of the 15, 10 of them don’t have enough coal. So, clearly, we’re heading for deeper trouble.” says Eskom’s Khulu Phasiwe..
This move has left the parastatal scrambling to secure new contracts with different companies to ensure that their coal reserves are sufficient. This is critical as they do supply 90% of the nations power supply, and these are predominantly through coal fired power stations.
Image: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
Residents can be put at ease as for the time being, as Eskom has assured the public that there is no threat of any imminent power cuts. However, it is a good idea to assist by trying to save as much electricity as you can.