Efforts to address Eskom’s R450-billion debt burden have taken a back seat to the government’s focus on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Johannesburg households and businesses using prepaid electricity are in for a shock if the fixed charges proposed in the city’s draft budget are approved.
The Public Investment Corp has submitted a proposal to government on converting bonds it holds in struggling state utility Eskom into equity, PIC chairman Reuel Khoza said in an interview.
Eskom expects only three days of stage-1 power cuts, where up to 1GW is taken off the national grid, during the winter period when demand increases, the CEO said on Wednesday.
Figures and estimates show that independent power producers and corporate installations are close to generating as much electricity as one of Eskom’s modern power stations.
Eskom has made “key” progress in restructuring the operations of the business, with the power utility committed to meeting the “ambitious” unbundling target date of 2021.
Eskom CEO André de Ruyter said on Thursday the state power utility could become financially viable and do without government bailouts if it could more than halve its debt to R200-billion.
Cape Town said it could buy its own renewable energy within five to six years if it wins a court case against the government.
Zimbabwe’s state power transmission company has invited bids for the construction of 500MW of solar power plants as part of a drive to increase its use of renewable energy and end power cuts.
Energy regulator Nersa said on Friday it will allow utility Eskom to recover R13.3-billion from customers for electricity supplied in the 2018/2019 financial year.