Busa wants a meeting with Presidents

By Khanyisa Tabata
28 August 2009


Business Unit South Africa has called for an urgent meeting of the President’s National Stakeholders Advisory Council to discuss the large financial loss recorded by Eskom in the last year.

The power utility recorded an operating loss of nearly R3.2 billion and a total loss of over R9 billion on Thursday.

Busa said it was deeply concerned at the magnitude of the financial loss sustained by Eskom, saying that such losses were not sustainable.


It explained that the size of the loss had clear implications for the “mix” of tariff increases, loan financing and additional state funding which will now be necessary to provide sustainability.

It said this was keeping interest rates higher than they otherwise need be and this should be balanced against Eskom’s funding needs.

Chief Executive Officer Jacob Maroga said Eskom had embarked on a huge expansion programme in the previous year as the power utility worked around the clock to keep the lights burning and ensuring a lasting recovery of South Africa's power system.

Eskom Holdings Chairman Bobby Godsell said as the financial results indicate, the operation recovery plan applied by Eskom came at a high financial cost.

He said 44 million tones of additional coal were purchased while power stations were operated at well above design levels.

Eskom spent R30 billion on its new power station building programme, compared to R18 billion the previous year.

But Godsell said the utility wanted to save R22 billion in the current financial year.