The cost to fix Eskom

quoted in the dialy investor.

Truth and Energy civil nuclear engineer Hugo Kruger said it will cost around R1 trillion to fix Eskom – a bill taxpayers will likely have to foot.

Kruger explained that Eskom’s declining performance and South Africans’ increased use of alternative energy sources means the utility will likely require another government bailout from the National Treasury.

Eskom’s results for the 2023 financial year revealed that the utility’s net loss had grown, and its performance deteriorated further. 

Eskom has implemented above-inflation tariff hikes for the past few years to make up for declining revenue as a result of lost sales on the back of load-shedding.

This year, the utility has also received a R254 billion debt relief package from the National Treasury, as the utility’s debt burden stood at R423 billion.

However, all these measures have done little to salvage Eskom’s fiscal health and performance.

“If you look at the performance, it’s declining. They’ve increased their tariff by something like 500% over the last few years, and their performance has gone down. They’re getting bailouts, and the performance continues to go down,” Kruger said.

The utility revealed in its results that Eskom’s energy availability factor worsened from 62.02% to 56.03% in 2023.

Full article at daily investor