National Energy Regulator of SA

The US company that designed the extremely flawed Kusile Power Station in Mpumalanga was given a blank cheque by Eskom, which it cashed in to score R12 billion.

Despite the fact that the engineering consulting firm Black & Veatch, which is situated in Kansas in the US, delivered shoddy work that continues to hobble Kusile’s performance, two senior Eskom executives told City Press last week that the company is still being paid hundreds of millions of rands.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has launched an investigation into irregularities around the construction of the Kusile, Medupi and Ingula power stations, which cost a combined R342 billion.

A senior law enforcement official told City Press: “The second phase of the SIU’s investigation is looking at the performance of, and payments made to the value of more than R139 billion, 11 identified contractors appointed by Eskom in respect of [the] power stations”.

At the same
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Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe made a desperate plea for higher Eskom tariffs over the next three years on Monday, as well as for more money from the government, while apologising to SA for the mess the utility is in.

Hadebe was speaking in Cape Town at public hearings held by the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) to interrogate Eskom’s application for a 15% tariff increase beginning in 2019-2020.

The application needs to meet Nersa’s approval before it can be applied to customers.

Eskom is in a dire financial situation, with a R419bn debt it is unable to service from the revenue it earns. It costs more for it to generate electricity than it recoups from tariffs due to a high cost base, which Nersa believes should not be made the burden of the South African public.

“I am the first to acknowledge that Eskom has contributed to its own problems. Eskom is compelled to apologise to SA for having brought these challenges. They could hav
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