Load reduction will be eliminated in March next year: Ramokgopa  – SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader.

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has announced that load reduction will be eliminated by March next year.

He was responding to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Ramokgopa says the number of customers affected by load reduction has already declined significantly from about 1.4 million.

He says, “We have reduced that number and we are now at 247 617 customers. The two provinces that are remaining is KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and we are confident that before the end of march next year we would have eliminated load shedding across the lengths and breadths  of the country.”

Ramokgopa also says the review of the electricity pricing regime is likely to be finalised by the end of January next year.

The electricity pricing review policy is currently out for public comment until the end of this month.

He says the pricing review could see an increase in the amount of free basic electricity.

Ramokgopa says, We are confident that with the current fiscal support, we can afford to anything between 200 and 300 kilowatt hour of free basic electricity, so we don’t need any additional allocation from Treasury.”