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Fin24 reports that top Eskom executives told MPs in Parliament on Tuesday that the worst industrial action in 28 years directly contributed to the power utility having to implement load shedding in mid-June.
They were briefing the portfolio committees on public enterprises and energy in a joint sitting on progress in addressing governance challenges and securing coal supplies. Acting CFO Calib Cassim told the committee that industrial action over the past year was the worst he had experienced in his 28 years at the power utility, describing it as “unprecedented”. “Load shedding was a result of the industrial action, not because Eskom had a capacity constraint. The highest demand was met with existing capacity,” he stated. Stay-aways and intimidation during a period of wage negotiations with unions led to reduced production, Cassim indicated and went on to say: “During the period we lost quite a lot of megawatts. We had to shut units down because we could not operate them for a long duration.” Coal could not be transported to the units, he said. The committee heard that low coal stockpiles were a serious concern. The strike resulted in the loss of two system stock days. The average coal stock level is 28.2 days - it would have been 30.2 days excluding the strike, Cassim said.
- Read this report by Lameez Omarjee in full at Fin24
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