Government has welcomed the full commercial operation of unit six at the Medupi power station.

“This is a good achievement by Medupi and is in line with the Five-Point Plan to deal with the country’s energy challenges which was approved by Cabinet in December last year.

"The achievement, therefore, demonstrates positive results that are yielded by government’s plans that are in place to ensure that in future the demands of the country’s growing economy are met,” said acting Director-General of Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Donald Liphoko on Monday.

The commercial operation will see an additional 794 MW being fed into the national power grid as announced by Eskom on Sunday.

President Jacob Zuma has also acknowledged that the country’s energy constraints are an impediment to economic growth and that overcoming this challenge is one of government’s priorities.

“Despite this achievement by Medupi, South Africans are encouraged to continue using electricity responsibly by switching off all non-essential appliances and become part of the solution," said Liphoko .