Embattled power utility Eskom has stopped a small Free State municipality from successfully using solar energy to reduce load shedding.<\/p>\n
The Johannesburg High Court this week ruled that Rural Maintenance Free State – a private company that had been managing the distribution of electricity to the Mafube Local Municipality – be barred from continuing its own load shedding schedules, as it would create a ‘precedent’ for other Eskom customers to seek similar relief.<\/p>\n
Shepstone & Wylie, the legal firm representing Rural Maintenance, said: “Eskom argued that circumstances like Frankfort on a larger scale would prevent Eskom from fulfilling its statutory duty to manage the grid and could result in a national blackout with catastrophic consequences for the entire country.”<\/p>\n
No documentary or expert evidence of this possibility was put forward by Eskom, the firm said.<\/p>\n