In a promising development for South Africa’s embattled power utility, Eskom is set to report a significantly lower annual loss of R15 billion, a marked improvement from the staggering R23.2 billion loss recorded in the previous year. This substantial reduction suggests that the parastatal may be on the mend, potentially steering towards a more stable and profitable future.
The improvement in Eskom’s financial health comes despite the utility’s heavy expenditure on diesel, which reached an astounding R33 billion.
Read: South Africa reaches 100-day milestone without load shedding
According to Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, this expenditure was necessary to fuel open-cycle gas turbines that kept the lights on across the nation, preventing widespread blackouts which have been ailing South Africans.
The high cost of diesel has been a significant financial burden, contributing heavily to the utility’s overall losses.
Worst may be over
The utility’s financial results for the year ending in March are expected to be released later this year, and there is a growing sense of cautious optimism Eskom’s annual losses significantly lower than last year, indicating potential turnaroundfor Eskom.
The state-owned entity has been under immense pressure to stabilize its operations and finances amidst the ongoing energy crisis in South Africa.
One of the most encouraging signs of Eskom’s potential recovery is its recent achievement of 100 consecutive days without load-shedding.
While many believed this to be a pre-election stunt, the lights have stayed on well past May 29, when South Africans cast their votes.
Ramokgopa, expressed his satisfaction with the progress made in stabilizing the country’s electricity supply. He said that this ould be attributed to the implementation of its generation operational recovery plan initiated in March 2023, coupled with aggressive planned maintenance.
This milestone marks a significant improvement in the reliability of the power supply, which has been plagued by blackouts that have severely impacted the economy of Africa’s most industrialized nation.
