Question NW1062 to the Minister of Public Enterprises
18 April 2023 - NW1062
Van Zyl, Ms A M to ask the Minister of Public Enterprises
What is the envisaged turnaround time to fix Eskom power outages (details furnished); (2) whether he has found that the Alfred App of Eskom is working optimally; if not, why not; if so, what are the reasons that it takes very long to fix power outages; (3) what is the time frame that Eskom will take to fix the specified outage and assist the most vulnerable group of the specified community?
Reply:
(1) The turnaround time to fix a dispatched work order is 7.5 hours and for auditing a meter that is flagged as a low buyer, it is seven days.
Customers across all areas are classified into various categories, each with its own threshold per month. The threshold for identifying low buyers in this area, is R300 per month. This customer on average buys R50 electricity a month.
Eskom experienced a high volume of faults over this period and the customer in question falls within the lower buyer category and further investigation had to be conducted. The investigation has been concluded, and it revealed that the cable to the premises was stolen. The cable has been replaced and the supply was restored on 3 April 2023.
(2) Alfred Chatbot is working. In case of a downtime, the problem gets fixed within a reasonable timeframe, so as not to inconvenience our customers. Each case is assessed according to the need of the request and differs per circumstance.
(3) As stipulated in question 1, it is also dependent on a number of factors such as investigations that need to be conducted. The referred to community has since had their cable replaced as at 3 April 2023.
Remarks: Approved / Not Approved
Jacky Molisane PJ Gordhan, MP
Acting Director-General Minister
Date: Date: