Power utility Eskom on Wednesday briefed the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises on its governance and operational challenges.
“Eskom is not in a bad situation from a financial point of view,” said Eskom acting chief executive Brian Molefe.
“Over the past year Eskom made a profit of R21 billion and a further government injection amounting to R23 billion from the National Treasury will be transferred in two phases. Eskom is not about to be declared bankrupt, it is still solvent,” Molefe said.
On the issue of the four suspended executives, Molefe said “A company has been set up to investigate the matter and will report back to the Board in a matter of three months.”
Regarding labour unrest, Molefe said “Eskom has about 46 000 employees and there has not been any major strike since 1998. However, Eskom has a build programme which has contractors on site. It is the employees of the contractors that are on strike. Over the last five years labour unrest has happened at two power stations.”
Giving an overview of the challenges of the power utility, Molefe added “Because of maintenance backlog, we have been delinquent with maintenance, we have now decided to fast-track maintenance and play catch-up. If we do not do maintenance, we will lose the capacity that is installed to be below what demand is. Demand for electricity is growing because we are busy with connections.”
The shortage of energy is said to be 3 000MG, this is the amount needed to do planned maintenance and breakages without having load shedding.
In a statement issued by the parliamentary communication services on behalf of the chairperson for the portfolio committee on public enterprises, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, “The Committee welcomed the announcement that Eskom has made a profit and that the financial situation was not as dire as reported.”
The Committee also expressed concern of the 25 per cent tariff increase that Eskom has requested from the national regulator. Members of the Committee said steps should be taken to cushion poor people against high tariff increases.
The Committee was of the view that load shedding will have unintended consequences on the economy such as job losses and will exacerbate the social challenges of the country. Members of the Committee questioned how long load shedding will stay, and if stage four load shedding is on the cards.
The Committee called on the power utility to improve its communication to the South African public. This call by the Committee was as a result of the confusion that occurred last week where reports indicated the country was at stage four with regard to load shedding.
The Committee questioned what Eskom is going to do regarding the 80 per cent debt that municipalities owe the power utility, as this has a serious impact on the cash flow of the company. The Committee called upon the Board to conduct proper oversight on the build programme and to ensure that operations are running smoothly.
