Eskom continues to skid on slippery excuses into an uncertain future

Yesterday Bloomberg said Eskom had a power reserve margin of just above 10 percent, less than its minimum target of 15 percent, according to chief executive Jacob Maroga.

SHOOT: One thing we can expect, one thing that is certain, is that the prices of electricity and other energy [fuel and food] will continue to increase. It's becoming a simple question of fundamental aggregate supply/demand economics.

clipped from www.busrep.co.za Eskom has been blamed for jeopardising a $2.5 billion (R18.5bn) project that could create thousands of jobs and reopen a power station that could add as much as 1 500 megawatts to the national grid. The Ngagane power station at Amajuba Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, shut down 18 years ago, was put up for sale by Eskom last July, but the utility has not followed through with the sale. The Southern Africa Power Consortium (SAPC) was shortlisted as one of the two preferred bidders to kill the old power unit and build a new one. The other shortlisted bidder is the EB Steam consortium. In a presentation to Eskom, SAPC said the new power station would create 100 000 jobs during the construction phase and 400 to 500 permanent jobs once the plant was operating again. The station currently can produce 500MW. "There is 400 million tons of coal within a 25km radius of the power station," said Pryde. The firms that Pryde represents will supply 200 000 of the 600 000 tons of coal a month.