The ACDP shares concerns expressed by others about Eskom’s diesel expenditure on emergency generation – a total of R65bn over the past five years or more than a billion rand per month – with most of this spent in the last two years.
Despite this huge cost the country still experienced high levels of loadshedding – devastating households, businesses and the economy as a whole. We also question the sudden suspension of loadshedding over the past few weeks. This may well be a political ploy to keep the lights on at all costs on the run-up to next month’s elections. The staggering diesel cost of R3.1bn for this past March is both alarming and unsustainable.
However the good news is that diesel costs have reduced this April, due to what Eskom says is increased solar generation. This the ACDP welcomes as less usage also protects the Open Cycle Diesel Turbines, which are only supposed to be used in emergency situations to keep the lights on or reduce loadshedding, and not continually run.
We trust that the increased usage of renewable energy will continue going forward, but we will be keeping a close eye on Eskom’s diesel budget.
