Eskom ‘works’, but ‘it’s not over’ – expert

Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa hit back at former Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter yesterday, saying the power utility’s turnaround was “orchestrated” rather than sudden.

While the minister praised Eskom’s team after they breached the 70% mark on the energy availability factor (EAF) for the first time since 2021, an expert said “we are not out of the woods yet”.

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But Ramokgopa had strong words for De Ruyter, who recently claimed Eskom was able to keep the lights on by “pouring money into diesel at a rate of knots”.

“We have seen in the public domain there are those who are beginning to find their voice,” said Ramokgopa.

‘Exceptional levels of incompetence’

“They’ve been here at Eskom [and] were meant to achieve these numbers [but] because of exceptional levels of incompetence, they’ve not been able to achieve this.

“When it is achieved, they are finding their voice. It’s important that we dampen those voices, that we’re able to illustrate in numbers the kind of exceptional achievement that has been attained by competent men and women.

“As I stand before you today, the energy availability factor of Eskom has breached the 70% mark. The last time we achieved this was in August 2021 and it now stands at 70.78%.”

Delivering an update on the Energy Action Plan at Kusile Power Station in Mpumalanga, he attributed the improvement to the addition of extra megawatts to the grid and noted Kusile was now operating at an EAF of 93%.

“We have been deliberate on how to quickly return these three units. And as a result of returning them early, as per plan, we’ve got the benefit of an additional 2 400 megawatts and those are contributing to the resolution of this problem,” he said.

“So, the point I’m making is that all these efforts are orchestrated. There’s nothing sudden about what you are seeing today.”

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Energy analyst Chris Yelland emphasised the importance of understanding the timeframe over which the 70% EAF was assessed.

“You need to state such if you look at an energy availability factor over a short period, it is meaningless,” he said. However, Yelland said the country was heading in the right direction.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” he said. “We may go through good periods and have some setbacks.

“I don’t think we should assume it’s all over because it’s not. But at least there’s some light and direction.”

Ramokgopa said load shedding had been suspended for 47 consecutive days, during which time open-cycle gas turbines (OCGT) usage had been lower than the same period last year.

“There is little reliance on the OCGT,” he said.

“What we are told in the public domain is that for those who have been unable to achieve this kind of exceptional performance, those who suggest that this improvement is sudden, there could be nothing further from the truth,” Ramokgopa said.

He said from 5 to 11 May, OCGTs were in use for four days, with just over R53 million spent on diesel. He labelled Kusile, Lethabo, Majuba, Matla and Medupi power stations as “consistently good performers” which had helped contribute to the EAF trend.

“We are beginning to see consistent performers, those which are really carrying the majority of the weight as we fix other power stations that are problematic,” he said.

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Yelland said data showed diesel usage had been high in January, February and March but had decreased in April and May.

“We should not be burning the amount of diesel we have been burning; it is expensive and bad for the budget,” he said.

“But it came down in April and it has come down very significantly in May, which is a good sign. “Eskom should work to keep it that way,” he said.

In his weekly newsletter, President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was too early to announce an end to load shedding, but noted a significant improvement in the reduction of power cuts through the implementation of the Energy Action Plan.

“Better maintained and more reliable power stations have increased the country’s EAF, which is the amount of electricity available from our power stations at any given time,” he said.

“The EAF has been above 60% since April, compared to 53% over the same period last year.”