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Business, civic organisations call for Eskom’s restructuring

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Business and civic organisations say urgent restructuring is needed to save Eskom from going under. The power utility says it is experiencing a R66 billion shortfall due to lower energy sales volumes and the increasing cost of coal between 2014 and 2017.

Day two of public hearings to request increased tariff increases by Eskom was held in Cape Town. Eskom is in crisis yet again.  Seven of its plants do not have adequate supplies of coal.

Eskom is no stranger to controversy, fraud and corruption are said to have gripped the utility much to the disadvantage of South Africans. In 2015 the country was forced to implement rolling power black outs.  Now civil organisations and businesses have come out guns blazing, saying it is time for change.

“With the new democracy government spent a huge amount of money to electrify housing, but the problem is the crisis that is escalating dramatically every year, the price is escalating every year.  It doesn’t help to have electrical connection if you can’t afford electricity, so that is part of the whole restructuring that we seem to be locked into old models of electricity that are becoming more and more costly. Eskom is one of the biggest utilities in the world and it’s becoming disconnected to the people; the local authorities are the ones that are close to the communities so we need a system where we can have Eskom broken up,”  says Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute’s Consultant Kim Kruvshaar.

However, Eskom says restructuring the company is up to government. “Eskom is a state owned organisation, we basically implement the decisions of government and it would be a government decision to restructure Eskom and we will participate in any process that is underway and that is our approach, we do not have a particular view on that issue,” says Eskom Regulation General Manager Hasha Tlhotlhalemaje.

Energy regulator Nersa is expected to chair a debate in May on whether Eskom should be restructured and if so when and how. It says it will use the Constitution to decide whether or not to grant Eskom tariff increases. The hearings will move to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. Click below for more on the story: 

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