Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said that the utility’s power generating system was looking good and it was managing to keep the lights on.
FILE: Eskom CEO André de Ruyter at a briefing at Megawatt Park on 31 January 2020. Picture: EWN
JOHANNESBURG – Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said that the utility’s power generating system was looking good and it was managing to keep the lights on.
But he said that the company had massive debt of R484 billion and this needed to be discussed with government.
The company has released its results, forecasting a net loss of R26.2 billion for the year ending March 2021.
De Ruyter said that the first thing he did when waking up in the morning was to check the system update.
“That has been green now for a month or longer and that is a very heartening sight… it really does lift my spirits.”
But he said that changes were coming.
“However, we are going to be retiring our end-of-life power stations over the next decade and that means that we are going to be taking out of commission between eight and 10 gigawatts.”
However, help was on the way.
“Completing Medupi unit 3 for commercial operation in July next year and then Kusile’s unit 3 will come online in March 2021.”
And Eskom has been talking to independent power producers, with energy regulator, Nersa, approving a procurement package.
