Question NW237 to the Minister of Public Enterprises
06 March 2019 - NW237
Hlonyana, Ms NKF to ask the Minister of Public Enterprises
What has he found to have been the financial impact of load shedding on the economy in the period 1 January 2018 to 12 February 2019?
Reply:
According to the information received from Eskom
- Eskom cannot provide a financial estimate for the cost of load shedding. The last relevant study was conducted in 2008, where Deloitte was commissioned by Eskom to look at the economic impact and how to reduce the short-term economic losses. Various key assumptions used in this study are no longer applicable e.g. GDP contributions by various industries have changed drastically. The study indicated that the cost of load shedding was R9 515/MWh for all industries. However, this study is outdated and cannot be used to estimate financial impact of load shedding in 2019. The 2008 study is provided as Annexure A.
Eskom can confirm that for the period 01 January 2018 to 12 February 2019 there was a total of 316 030.33 MWh (over certain periods of the day over 18 days) that were impacted by load shedding.