Posts tagged with 'power utility'

 

Eskom warns – Be prepared for ‘load shedding at short notice’

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The struggling utility has been forced to go the expensive route of using water and diesel due to the breakdown of some units.

The “unexpected loss” of some of Eskom’s generation units over the weekend has left the electricity system “severely constrained”, the struggling energy utility said in a statement.

While the statement said load shedding was “not expected”, it also said the “unexpected loss of additional units may result in load shedding at short notice”.

“The system remains vulnerable to a number of variables due to historic factors such as inadequate maintenance as well as ageing of plants.”

The utility said 9,500MW of power was taken out of the grid due to the breakdowns, forcing it to use “emergency resources” – water and diesel – to meet demand.

This follows five days of load shedding in October due to outages at five power generating units.

At a media briefing last week, Minister o
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Bankrupt Eskom pleads for another government bailout as debt climbs beyond R450bn

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The power utility’s debt is reaching levels beyond R450 billion and Mabuza was in Parliament on Tuesday asking government for more money.

Eskom CEO and board chairperson Jabu Mabuza said the power utility’s debt levels have reached the ceiling.

Eskom’s debt is reaching levels beyond R450 billion and Mabuza was in Parliament on Tuesday asking government for more money.

He said the power utility has not done enough to generate more revenue.

The acting CEO also admitted that Eskom was borrowing money to pay off its debt.

“Our revenue over the past 10 years, increasingly so over the last five years, has actually been flat to about 1% per year. On the other side, we’ve had a ballooning debt that we have not been able to collect which has totalled to R38 billion.”

Mabuza said the only function Eskom could control was its own expenses.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni tabled a bill before the National Assembly i
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#Blackprivilege: ANC wants Eskom to come to the aid of residents who, for long periods, have been struggling without electricity, because they refused to buy it. This is discrimination and totally unfair!

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The ANC Caucus in Johannesburg has called on Eskom to lace up its bootstraps and reconnect the power supply to communities like Soweto, Ivory Park and Diepsloot.

The call from the party came in the form of a march to the power utility’s headquarters at Megawatt Park in Sandton.

The ANC Caucus handed over a memorandum of demands to Eskom, with the power utility vowing to respond within seven days.

What are ANC’s demands to Eskom?
The party wants Eskom to “fulfil its mandate of providing the City’s residents with electricity”.

In a statement, the ANC Caucus lambasted the power utility for not tending to the needs of residents in areas like Soweto, Ivory Park, Diepsloot and Orange Farm, who have been left with no electricity for long durations these past few weeks.

“It should be noted that as the Caucus, we support wholly the call for residents to pay for services, but we implore Eskom to not resort to collective pun
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PAY BACK THE MONEY: Gupta-Linked Trillian ordered to pay Eskom R600m as a result of an invalid deal involving corruption and fraud

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JOHANNESBURG – Gupta-linked global consultancy firm Trillian capital has been ordered to pay Eskom R600 million.

In March last year, the power utility sued both Trillian and McKinsey for the repayment of almost R1.6 billion allegedly unlawfully paid to them as a result of an invalid deal involving corruption and fraud.

McKinsey has since paid back the R1 billion it received from Eskom, but Trillian vehemently opposed the application, claiming it was McKinsey’s local partner and sub-contractor and was never involved in any corruption.

Transnet paid Trillian R93 million for five-day work – Bloom

Mabuza: ‘Koko gave McKinsey, Trillian advantages on Eskom contracts’

Trillian also argued that it deserved to keep the full R600 million for the work done.

However, the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday declared as unlawful and invalid decisions by Eskom officials that resulted in the power utility paying Trillian Ca
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During the ANC regime, roughly R500 billion has been looted by Eskom contractors, which partly explains why South Africa is in such a big financial mess – it is unsure if the culprits will be brought to justice

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A Special Investigation Unit is currently investigation more than eleven contractors whom are suspected of robbing the power utility of billions of rand.

The contractors looted R130 billion from Eskom during the construction of the two new power stations, Medupi and Kusile as well as the Ingula power station.

From the so-called “inner circles” it is claimed that plundering at Eskom has been taken place since 2005, which partly explains why South Africa has ended up in a financial mess.

A spokesman said Eskom had been robbed of R170bn, of which R130bn was directly related to so-called contractors working at the different power plants.

Investigation is now being done to determine who has committed theft, and who worked within Eskom to benefit the thieves.

Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
This report does not necessarily reflects the opinion of SA-news.

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Rolling Blackouts on the cards as AMCU threaten secondary strike , AMCU represents about half of coal mine workers in SA

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The tussle between Sibanye-Stillwater and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has reached new heights.

The trade union, whose membership also includes coal mine workers, has teased a secondary strike and this could affect load shedding too.

Why is AMCU set to embark on a secondary strike?
AMCU president, Joseph Mathunjwa, made it abundantly clear that the upcoming strike has to be felt on a national scale. The plan is to render the entire country to a complete standstill.

This, according to Mathunjwa, is the only way to make the government — particularly the Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe — heed their calls for a moratorium at Sibanye-Stillwater.

Mantashe, on Thursday, revealed that his department would be engaging with the gold producer after it revealed its intentions to retrench more than 6 000 workers.

Mathunjwa expressed his disgust with this, criticising Mantashe of catering
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South Africans should brace for more rolling blackouts as the power grid is unstable and cannot produce enough power to sustain the country

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Eskom warned of wider controlled power cuts on Monday after six additional generating units unexpectedly went offline. The power utility launched stage 4 load shedding, which requires the shedding of 4 000 megawatts from the grid.

The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry is shocked by the sudden dramatic increase in load shedding.

“How is it possible for six units to go down at the same time?” asked Ms Janine Myburgh, President of the Chamber. “It is just too much of a co-incidence and we must ask if this is not another case of sabotage?”

Sabotage was blamed for a previous bout of load shedding, but the form it took was never explained to the public, except for workers who prevented coal deliveries from taking place.

“Stage Four load shedding is very serious indeed and it will affect commerce and industry. This will also affect the jobs of other workers, especially in heavy industry and it is time that workers whose jobs are at
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