The estimated consumption of electricity in April 2008 increased by 0.8 percent (152 Gigawatt-hours) compared with April 2007, Statistics SA said on Thursday.

An increase of 4.7 percent was recorded for April 2007 compared with April 2006.

Electricity consumed for the three months ending April 2008 increased "insignificantly" by only 11 Gigawatt-hours compared with the same three months a year ago, Stats SA said.

"In the first four months of 2008, consumption of electricity was affected by numerous factors that led to reduced levels of consumption, such as load shedding and a continuous drive from Eskom in encouraging users to save on electricity consumption."

Electricity consumption after seasonal adjustment for the latest three months ending April 2008 increased by 0.8 percent compared with the previous three months ended January 2008.

Stats SA also said that production of electricity had slowed.

The estimated production of electricity, after seasonal adjustment, showed a decrease of 1,2 percent for the three months ending April 2008 compared with the preceding three months.

The estimated total production of electricity in April 2008 increased by 1.0 percent (213 Gigawatt-hours) compared with April 2007.

The estimated production of electricity during the latest three months ending April 2008 increased marginally by 0.4 percent (279 Gigawatt-hours) compared with the same period of 2007.

International trade in electricity for 2008 to date slowed down – it showed annual decreases for electricity imported from outside South Africa (-21.9 percent or -889 Gigawatt-hours) and electricity exported to neighbouring countries (-1.0 percent or -44 Gigawatt- hours).

"The decrease in imports of electricity in the first four months of 2008 resulted from reduced availability from the Cahorra Bassa scheme owing to the planned refurbishment of an Eskom converter station and the unavailability of the transmission network in Zambia, owing to system instability in that country," Stats SA said.

Sapa