The government is considering the division of South Africa into two time zones.

This is according to Portia Molefe, Director General of Public Enterprises, who was on Wednesday briefing the minerals and energy committee in Parliament on the present electricity crisis.

She said the idea was considered some time ago, but at that time the bulk of the industrial capacity of the country was in Gauteng, and the change to two zones would not have had much impact on the usage of electricity.

But since then the industrial capacity of the Western Cape has grown and the government now considers that overall there would be a benefit as peak usage times would be staggered.

There could also, she said, be a saving in total electricity use of about 200MW. She also indicated that there would be advantages to the nationally owned airlines, but pointed out that there was still much more to consider "and work around" before a decision would be made.

Molefe was also asked by members of the committee about reports that the aluminium smelter in Richards Bay was to be closed down. She told them: "We have not received any proposal for a smelter to shut down."

In addition, Brian Dames, the chief operating officer of Eskom, told the committee that it was simply not economical to return the Soweto power station to service -- it would take too long, and would be too costly, he said. "The same applies to the one you have standing in Cape Town," he said. -- I-Net Bridge