Outgoing Eskom CEO André de Ruyter blames past leaders for power utility's troubles, leaving citizens annoyed

• Eskom’s outgoing CEO André de Ruyter believes the power utility is “paying for the sins of the past”
• He made the remark during his appearance before parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa)
• The state-owned power utility plans to add an additional 1,862 megawatts to the grid by the end of March

JOHANNESBURG - Outgoing Eskom CEO André de Ruyter believes the power utility is “paying for the sins of the past” despite efforts to create stability.

He said the issues at Eskom can be traced back to 1998. According to EWN, de Ruyter said power outages could have been avoided if Eskom had not refused to sign power purchase agreements with independent power producers in 2014.

At the time the government believed that the money should have been allocated to other sectors. De Ruyter said there was a deliberate decision to neglect the maintenance to prevent loadshedding by “borrowing” supply from the future.

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The Eskom boss said energy experts indicated that as much as 95% of loadshedding could have been avoided if the contracts had been signed. However, he added that it was merely a “hypothetical argument”.

TimesLIVE reported that Eskom plans to add an additional 1,862MW to the grid by the end of March. De Ruyter added that it would be difficult to say when loadshedding would end.

Mzansi fed up with De Ruyter’s excuses

@LocalMa47977568 said:

“De Ruyter is the same as those executives. He has awarded contracts to IPP that will generate power in the next 24 - 36 months. How? And he claims to address loadshedding. I guess he's securing future retirement packages.”

@KekanaAbba commented:

“What is the plan to stop loadshedding? That's all I want to hear.”

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Loadshedding sparks fear in business owners: “We are basically burning profits”

Loadshedding sparks fear in business owners: “We are basically burning profits”

Briefly News also reported that the effects of loadshedding are wreaking havoc on local businesses that are finding it difficult to keep their doors open due to additional costs.

Business owners in Johannesburg are facing possible store closures as they are forced to run generators which are using up their profits. Aside from the additional costs of loadshedding, Eskom could soon implement tariff hikes.

Speaking to SABC News, one business owner said it is impossible to work without electricity since they work with milk, which could spoil easily if it is not stored properly. The owner said their only solution is to increase the pricing which affects community members.

Source: Briefly News