On a late Thursday afternoon last November, in the midst of rolling blackouts implemented by state-owned company Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., a contractor in the eastern Mpumalanga province pulled a plug connected to one of the site’s main generation units.
(Bloomberg) — On a late Thursday afternoon last November, in the midst of rolling blackouts implemented by state-owned company Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., a contractor in the eastern Mpumalanga province pulled a plug connected to one of the site’s main generation units.
The unit subsequently broke down, ensuring yet another day of nationwide outages. The worker later confessed that he’d intentionally sabotaged the machinery — resulting in $1 million in damages and almost $6 million in lost revenue — so his employer would be hired to make the repairs.
The event was one of more than 760 criminal incidents targeting Eskom operations over a 90-day period ending in December. At every step of its supply chain, the utility that’s responsible for producing 90% of South Africa’s energy has had to defend itself against armed robbery, fuel theft, sabotage and corruption – all of which are increasing the risk of a complete power outage that could devastate an economy teetering on the brink of recession.
Read more: Eskom Is Fighting Corruption at Every Step of Its Supply Chain
State Insurer Won’t Cover Damages Related to Grid Collapse (May 7, 11:11 p.m.)
The South African Special Risk Insurance Association told clients it won’t pay claims for any damages related to a collapse of the national electricity grid, Business Day reported, citing a circular from the state-owned company.
The company has been urged by reinsurers to “eliminate its coverage for claims stemming from electricity-grid failure” should the outages trigger civil unrest similar to that experienced in July 2021, the Johannesburg-based newspaper quoted Sasria as saying.
The new policy on coverage comes with Eskom having yet to release its official system outlook for the coming winter months, when energy demand is expected to increase. South Africa is currently experiencing record daily outages that leave consumers without power for at least 10 hours a day because the state power utility can’t meet demand.
Eskom Intensifies Power Cuts (May 7, 2:55 p.m.)
Eskom will remove as much as 6,000 megawatts of capacity from the nation’s grid until further notice, following the failure of more generating units.
Breakdowns at the Majuba, Medupi and Tutuka facilities have added to shortages that resulted from delays in returning seven units to service after reiapirs were conducted, the utility said in a statement on Sunday.
President Deploys Army to Protect Plants (May 6, 9:17 a.m.)
President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered army personnel to be stationed at power plants as theft and sabotage adds to Eskom’s inability to meet electricity demand.
A total of 880 members of the South African National Defence Force will be deployed at facilities around the country until Oct. 17, presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said in a statement on Saturday. About 2,700 members were previously deployed March 17 through April 17.
Andre de Ruyter, the former chief executive officer of Eskom, estimated the amount of money that’s being stolen from Eskom at 1 billion rand ($55 million) a month.
Court Rules on Power-Cut Exemptions (May 5, 5:42 p.m.)
South Africa’s High Court ruled that all government hospitals and clinics, state schools and the country’s police buildings be spared from power cuts.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan must “take all reasonable steps within 60 days” to prevent interruption of electricity supply due to rotational blackouts implemented by Eskom, according to a ruling by three judges from the court in Pretoria.
Read more: South African Court Exempts Hospitals, Schools From Power Cuts
South Africa’s Review of Coal-Power Stations Expected by July (May 5, 3:21 p.m.)
A consortium of consultants that the National Treasury hired in February to review Eskom’s 14 coal plants and determine which ones can be revived to original equipment-manufacturers’ standards will present their findings by July to the National Energy Crisis Committee, Rudi Dicks, head of the South African presidency’s project management office said in online presentation.
Eskom is expected to implement the group’s recommendations to access 254 billion rand ($13.9 billion) of debt relief from the government over the next three years.
–With assistance from Antony Sguazzin and Rene Vollgraaff.
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