‘Speeding up the gravy train’: Eskom’s R9.2bn diesel spend cannot be justified

Eskom has spent more than R9 billion on diesel over the past four months, according to the head of project management in the Presidency, Rudi Dicks, which experts say remains the most financially destructive method of generating electricity.

Dicks was speaking yesterday at the weekly update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan, during which Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said fuel needed to be burned to protect the economy because “it had always been Eskom’s intention to use the open-cycle gas turbines to reduce winter load shedding”.

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Dicks initially said R12.4 billion had been spent on diesel until the end of July, but later clarified the figure included electricity purchases from private open-cycle gas turbines, and that Eskom’s own year-to-date diesel spend had been R9.2 billion.

Ramokgopa said: “What we are sharing with you is nothing outside of what we had promised. We did say that [burning diesel] is going to come at great cost.”

He said the aim remained to recover 6 000MW of capacity from the coal fleet relative to the lows of May and reported that about 2 000MW of that capacity had already been recovered.

No justification

However, independent energy and political analyst Tshepo Kgadima said “they cannot justify why this much money was spent on diesel”.

He said government’s interest was never not to generate electricity cost effectively.

“Their intention is to speed up the gravy train. Because, let’s start here, Ankerlig, Avon and Dedisa are open-cycle gas turbine power stations, and none of them were meant to provide base-load electricity,” he said.

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The Democratic Alliance (DA) said Ramokgopa seems to have intervened in operational matters at Eskom to burn as much diesel as possible to keep the lights on.

“The DA demands that Ramokgopa and the Eskom board answer what plans they have to keep the lights on when the diesel budget runs out before the end of 2023,” said the DA’s Samantha Graham-Maré.

“Reports indicate that Eskom has already spent R12.4 billion of its R27.9 billion diesel, four months into its 2023-24 financial year, which ends on 31 March, 2024.”

However, Ramokgopa said: “You have to make a choice on whether you continue to burn diesel – essentially expending a lot of money and protect the economy – or allow the economy to go into free fall.”