More than 140 days of load shedding and Eskom doesn’t have money to burn diesel anymore

Eskom Group Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer briefed the public on the power utility’s operating performance and the state of load shedding in South Africa.

As per Eskom’s System Status and Outlook report, some challenges include municipal debt and energy losses, as well as the cost of burning diesel.

Eskom already spent nearly R11.2 billion on diesel this year.

Load shedding update

As per the report, South Africans had to endure 141 days of load shedding from April to October, and it is here to stay as Eskom is still experiencing a “capacity challenge”.

Note: As of 15 November, the total days of load shedding add up to 159.

ALSO READ: This graph shows the hourly load shedding distribution during 2022

Maintenance concerns

The “high levels of unplanned outages remain a concern, however, we continue to drive our Reliability Maintenance Recovery Programme to reduce these”.

Oberholzer said: “We have to do reliability maintenance but we need capacity”.

Unplanned load losses increased by 30.76%, while planned maintenance remains on track – 9.24% while the target was 10.5%.

“We understand the impact on […] the lives of our people. But we still have a challenge with capacity.”

No money for diesel

Oberholzer admitted Eskom’s capacity is in a terrible state. The power utility already spent R11.2 billion on open-cycle gas turbines, as of the end of October 2022.

He said there is “no money to burn diesel anymore”. Eskom would, therefore, be forced to continue with the implementation of load shedding.

He said the power utility used more diesel than anticipated and is now trying to burn “as little as possible diesel to preserve resources”.

In addition to this, Oberholzer said outstanding municipal debt remains a challenge.

Municipalities’ outstanding debt

He said municipalities “utilise Eskom’s product without pay”, and currently “an astronomical figure” of R52 billion is owed to Eskom.

“We do not have money, we do not have cash. If you don’t have money, you cannot spend. And this is where Eskom finds itself. We do not have any more money to spend on diesel,” Oberholzer said.

He said Eskom would be able to spend more if municipalities settle their debts. The municipalities in arrears “need to sit back and understand their contributions towards load shedding”.

Impact on load shedding and economy

He said limiting the diesel spend “has had an impact on the stage of load shedding we’ve implemented”.

“With what we have available and how the system performs, we’ll see how to move forward.”

Moreover, Oberholzer said Eskom “has a good understanding” of the impact of rolling blackouts on the economy.

“Are we proud of it? No. Do we apologise for it? Yes. We do understand the impact and take it into consideration when implementing load shedding.”

Some of these considerations include matric exam schedules, peak traffic hours, and so forth.

Coal stock readiness

On the plus side, Eskom’s coal stock is healthy.

The power utility has approximately 35 days of coal stock, with 69.7 stock days when including the excess coal at the Medupi Power Station.

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