Electricity outages experienced in Cape Town since November have raised concerns in South Africa, with some experts warning that South Africa could face a nationwide power supply crisis due to a lack of power stations and effective maintenance of current facilities.

Experts warned that the rest of the country, which supplies two- thirds of Africa's electricity, could expect similar serious power failures to the ones Cape Town has experienced since November, according to local newspaper City Press.

Industry players believed the crisis was a result of Eskom's negligence related to ineffectual and inadequate maintenance, a lack of long-term planning, and a loss of engineers and technicians, the paper said.

Unlike in the past, when there was an excess of electricity, South Africa has reached a point where, during peak demand periods as in winter, electricity demand will exceed Eskom's ability to supply.

State-owned Eskom supplies about 95 percent of South Africa's electricity.

"We don't have enough electricity because we don't have enough power stations," energy expert Andrew Kenny was quoted as saying.

He said international standards dictated that any country should have a reserve capacity of 15 percent. South Africa had only 5 percent capacity in reserve.

However, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has argued that the electricity outages that have affected especially the Western Cape Province over the past week were not caused by insufficient capacity.

"The outages over the last few days are not a consequence of a lack of sufficient capacity. They stem from technical problems at Koeberg (nuclear) power station," ANC's national spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said in a statement on Friday.

Ngonyama said South Africa was well-placed to meet its energy requirements now and into the future, "with the ANC-led government significantly increasing investment in electricity supply."

The ANC-led government has been attacked by opposition parties for its abilities of service delivery, including electricity, as the voting day of local government elections, which falls on March 1, is approaching.

Source: Xinhua