A document titled “voluntary” NRS048-9 edition 3, which
would in unforeseen emergency circumstances allow Eskom to implement drastic
load shedding beyond stage 8, is currently being finalised by the National
Regulatory Services Association of SA, a voluntary association assisting with
regulating load shedding.
Confirming the document, Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena
said its guidelines would be implemented only if there were emergencies
threatening to collapse the grid, something that might be possible during
winter.
NRS membership comprises energy suppliers including Eskom,
municipalities, and regulators.
When asked if the country should expect worst-case
scenarios such as the possibility of the power grid facing total collapse and
requiring load shedding above stage 8, Mokwena said the safety of the grid
could not be guaranteed.
“But with what we are seeing in terms of how the system is
behaving, the current system does not show that we can go to that stage,” she
said.
NRS management committee chairperson Vally Padayachee, a
former group executive in Eskom’s generation division, has justified load
shedding as necessary to prevent the catastrophic consequences of a blackout
owing to total grid collapse because of possible high demand in the future.
NRS is yet to send the draft document to the National
Energy Regulator of SA for “legal mandating consideration”. However, once it is
approved, it will become a legal licence for all electricity utilities,
including Eskom and municipalities.
Mokwena said this document allowed for load shedding to be
implemented up to stage 16.
Nersa spokesperson Charles Hlebela declined to comment. IOL
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