"We have various plans in place, I believe very good plans...however this is going to take time to implement," Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer said, adding: "For the next 12 months or so we may not see the required benefits."
Oberholzer told a news briefing that the performance of Eskom's fleet of ageing, unreliable coal-fired power stations continued to deteriorate. He said 42 generating units, or almost 24,000 megawatts of capacity tripped last week, with some units breaking down more than once.
Mid-way through its financial year, Eskom has spent R7.7bn on diesel to run emergency generators, far in excess of the budgeted amount, Oberholzer added, calling it a serious concern.
"It's really a difficult situation we find ourselves in," he told reporters.
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day.
Go to: https://www.reuters.com/
