A new report analysing Eskom’s financial position warns that the State-owned utility is simply not generating enough cash through operations and electricity sales to cover the interest on its borrowings, which will peak at around R500-billion in the coming three years. However, it also argues that a return to sustainability lies not in larger tariff increases, but in eliminating unnecessary expenditure, reducing employee costs and extending short-term support to electricity intensive businesses at risk of being forced to cut production, owing to rising power costs.
