By: Louise Flanagan

Johannesburg – Load shedding costs South Africa up to R11 billion a month, but it’s here until Eskom is back on track.

“It’s important to reduce load shedding because it’s the biggest cost to the economy,” said Rudi Dicks, deputy director-general in the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME).

The “estimated cost is between R8bn and R11bn a month”. The main costs are the damage to machinery, equipment and labour.

“This doesn’t include the impact on investor confidence and social trust,” he added.

Load shedding costs R9 to R15 per kWh and running diesel-powered stations costs R4 to R5 per kWh, compared to Eskom’s average cost of producing electricity of 67c/kWh.

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