With 90% of South Africa now having access to electricity, the utility will now put special focus on the three provinces that are lagging behind with electrification, namely Kwa-Zulu Natal, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
Electrification scheme on the ball
Eskom has managed to electrify 37,880 households across the country within the first quarter of its current financial year (1 April to 30 June 2017), with 9,886 households being connected in Kwa-Zulu Natal, followed by 9,755 households in the Eastern Cape and 7,502 in Limpopo respectively.
Eskom’s group executive for distribution, Mongezi Ntsokolo, explained: “Electrification is about improving the quality of life of our fellow South Africans, and Eskom believes that each household electrified brings the nation a step closer to service delivery and poverty alleviation.” Read more…
Ntsokolo said Eskom was gearing itself for even better results in the next two quarters (1 July 2017 – 31 December 2017), where focus will be placed on building new infrastructure to enable the rollout of the electrification programme in remote areas.
| Province | Total programme target Q1 | Q1 actual YTD |
| Eastern Cape | 9,755 | 10,810 |
| Free State | 192 | 277 |
| Gauteng | 500 | 528 |
| Kwa – Zulu Natal | 9,886 | 10,772 |
| Limpopo | 7,502 | 8,107 |
| Mpumalanga | 3,922 | 3,418 |
| Northern Cape | 377 | 413 |
| North West | 2,090 | 2,645 |
| Western Cape | 825 | 910 |
| Grand Total | 35,049 | 37,880 |
Table 1: Electrification rolled out per province between 1 April and 30 June 2017
“The results of the first quarter are a clear indication that Eskom has changed gear and has set itself up to deliver on this service. Our target is again to connect in excess of 200,000 new connections by end of our financial year,” he said. Read more…
Featured image: Stock
