Eskom bill for diesel more than doubles

The cost of running Eskom’s diesel-powered units more than doubled as its fleet of coal-fired plants broke down often.

The state-owned power utility paid R21.4bn in the 12 months to end-March, compared with R10bn the year before to operate its open-cycle gas turbines intended to run during peakdemand hours, the National Treasury said in a presentation to MPS on Tuesday.

The difference in amounts was due partly to higher-thanbudgeted volumes and higher prices, it said. The rand weakened almost 14% against the dollar this year, partly due to the power crisis.

Eskom’s energy availability factor, a measure of usable capacity, fell to 56% during the financial year, mainly as a result of unplanned outages. That is down from 62% the previous year, the presentation shows.

Its finances are also in a worse state, with the loss before tax almost doubling to R21.2bn from R11.9bn. Gross debt securities and borrowings rose 11% to R439bn in the year.