Eskom has spent more than R5bn on diesel in this financial year, relying on it more at the beginning of the year, says minister of electricity and energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. 

He said the budget for diesel for the financial year is about R12bn.

Ramokgopa provided an update on the state of the electricity grid in Pretoria on Wednesday. He acknowledged the utility experienced challenges at the beginning of the financial year in April.

“We relied more on diesel to support us during times of difficulty. During winter, when the intensity of demand reaches a peak, is when we are likely to experience challenges if some units fail. We don't have headroom to absorb failures of units,” he said.

He said from April 1 to August 31 2023, Eskom used about R14.8bn worth of diesel.

“We used R5.8bn this year and last year during the period we spent R3.6bn.”

Ramokgopa said the system has recovered. The country entered winter with a system relatively stronger compared to the situation in 2023, as a number of units were expected to come into play during the winter period.

“All those things have come to fruition and that has made it possible that we have not registered load-shedding.”

Going into the rest of winter and transitioning into summer, the utility does not expect major surprises regarding grid performance, he said. The system is stable and becoming more reliable moving forward,.

He acknowledged that while there is no load-shedding, many parts of the country are experiencing load reduction. This, he said, is due to downstream, isolated capacity constraints where the distribution and reticulation infrastructure is not sufficient to meet demand.

The country is in the final stages of determining how load reduction will be resolved, he said, adding that Kusile is is performing well. 

The focus must shift to addressing the skills gap, he said, as they cannot rely on outside parties to perform the minimum function expected of the utility.

“The core function of Eskom is to keep the machines running. You need skills for that.”

The next phase they are addressing will focus on load reduction and the cost of electricity.

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