Eskom is said to be considering the sale of smaller assets as the state-owned power utility weighs solutions to a liquidity crisis that contributed to a wave of rolling blackouts.
Browsing: Eskom
There is unlikely to be any further load shedding until at least mid-January 2019, Eskom said in a statement on Thursday.
Eskom should consider selling two coal-fired plants that rank among the world’s biggest to repair the state-owned utility’s finances, according to the head of South Africa’s biggest bank by market value.
Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan on Thursday announced immediate plans to put an end to the load shedding that has been a daily occurrence countrywide since 29 November.
Economists estimate that the South African economy could have been 10% larger by the end of 2014 if it had not been for crippling power shortages.
Bloated by debt, bled by corruption and battered by structurally declining sales, Eskom is facing what’s known in the industry as a “death spiral”.
Eskom wants government to absorb about R100-billion of debt as part of a rescue plan for the state-owned utility, according to a report, a move that will put further strain on already stretched state finances.
It’s deja vu for South Africa as a chronic power deficit plunges large tracts of the country into darkness and casts a pall over the already struggling economy.
Eskom again implemented load shedding, at stage 2, on Monday.
In the TalkCentral podcast this week, Duncan McLeod and Regardt van der Berg, both load shedded, chat about the feasibility of disconnecting oneself from the Eskom grid.