South Africa’s electricity supply and demand has been balanced. This is the view of Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba. “The country’s power system is under constraint but I’m happy to announce that both Eskom and government have managed to balance the electricity supply and demand in the country”.

The campaign, which was launched nationally in March last year, aims to encourage individuals and businesses to lead energy smart lifestyles. Gigaba said despite this balance being reached, government has noticed with concern that energy was slowly becoming a scarce resource.

“It is against this background that 49M was launched, to urge South Africans to partner with us as we try to create a country that is energy efficient.” Gigaba said South Africans and business communities had to come together to support the campaign.

“We are here today to call on this community to join us in our endeavour to strengthen these partnerships and help us keep the country’s lights on.” He asked residents to follow simple electricity saving tips such as switching to energy-saving light bulbs and switching off appliances that were not in use.

He also called on residents to be mindful when using electricity between 5pm and 9pm as the country consumed plenty of electricity during this period. In closing Gigaba told residents to report illegal connections and cable theft. He said these contributed to network overload and equipment failure, causing the system to trip and result in localised power outages.

“It is time we change our behaviour. Simple things such as changing cooking times and switching off what is not in use makes a big difference to the electricity grid. If you don’t use it, please switch it off.”