Eskom has already spent R7.7 bn on emergency generators

Six months into its financial year, struggling power utility Eskom has spent R7.7 billion on diesel to operate emergency generators – far in excess of the budgeted amount.

The state-owned enterprise implemented extensive power cuts last week and was scheduled to do so again this week with stage 3 load shedding from 5am today and stage 2 until Friday.

Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer yesterday said the performance of Eskom’s ageing, unreliable coal-fired power stations continued to deteriorate.

A total of 43 electricity generators had tripped last week, with about 24 000 megawatts lost, and several generators broke down.

“I would like to apologise. It was a disastrous week,” he said. “We have managed to return 37 units, totalling about 22 000MW, which includes Cahora Bassa.”

Energy analyst Clyde Mallinson said the question was whether Eskom should stay within the budget and the economy “take it on the chin” or Eskom be given more money for diesel because it was “better” than load shedding.

Mallinson said load shedding did not cost Eskom other than their “reputation”. “When they load shed, they do not spend anymore more money; they actually save a bit.

They only lose in regards to the sale of electricity,” he said. “The real loss of load shedding is to the economy. But when they burn diesel, it is directly on Eskom’s cash flow.”

Looking further ahead, Oberholzer said Eskom planned to improve on maintenance during the summer, which could result in irregular load shedding.

Maintenance remained an issue because results were less satisfactory. He attributed the maintenance problems to a lack of appropriate skills and equipment issues.

“Eskom is facing maintenance issues with milling plants, high-pressure valves, cooling water systems, conveyors and water treatment plans – among others.” One simply could not “catch up” with maintenance when it was missed.

“If you do not do the things you should have done, then it is likely to lead to the breaking and wearing out of parts which are not wearing parts. “As they go deeper, they will discover more needs to be maintained.”

Oberholzer added there had been a number of comments about why Eskom was load shedding, because President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan on the energy crisis should have helped.

“This is going to take time to implement. For the next 12 months we may not see the benefits. Until then, we need to rely on coal fleet. It is a delicate situation and it is critical that capacity be added as soon as possible.”

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