Eskom working to address boiler tube leaks - Ramokgopa

JOHANNESBURG - Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that Eskom was working to come up with a plan to address boiler tube leaks after 10 generating units were taken offline in two days due to leaks.  

Ramokgopa held a media briefing on Sunday to update the public on the state of the country's energy crisis.

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Currently, the country is at stage five load shedding, with more generating units expected to return to service on Wednesday evening.

Minister Ramokgopa said that boiler tube leaks had been identified as a major area of concern, that had largely contributed to the implementation of stage six over the weekend.

Ramokgopa said in November, when the number of units broke down, the tube leaks were largely to blame.

He said that the utility was working with the manufacturers of the units to address this.

"The people who know the DNA of these units have been assigned this responsibility so that we are able to, if you like, do profile, root cause analysis, be able to diagnose and then provide a prognosis."

Ramokgopa said that more units were expected to return to service on Wednesday, which would help lower the stages of load shedding.