The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana spoke to the parliament during the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement on Thursday, insisting that the country needs(ed) stable energy supply.

He made it clear that Load shedding is having a serious impact on the economy as businesses have complained of losing billions of rands. He also said the country has spent the last 13 years trying to fix Eskom instead of ensuring stable energy supply.

“Our first and immediate task, in this regard, must be to ensure stable energy supply, reduce the risk of load shedding and accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources. All of our efforts over the past 13 years have been to fix Eskom, instead of addressing security supply by adding additional capacity to the grid. We have already made significant progress in correcting this: the amendment of schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act of 2006, has raised the licensing threshold from 1 t0 10 megawatts. It has also made it possible for private generators to sell directly to customers. This will alleviate the risk of power cuts,” said Godongwana.

He said there would be no further allocation given to the power utility.

Eskom has been relying on government bailouts for the last few years with billions of rand pumped into it.

The minister also said municipalities would have to procure electricity from other sources of energy and not rely on Eskom.

He said the issue of energy security in the country remained the biggest challenge facing the government.

He said the government would have to ensure stability in the power supply so that the economy would pick up.