Johannesburg – Restructuring power utility Eskom will be critical in making it attractive for private investment in future, says CEO Andre de Ruyter.
On Monday de Ruyter discussed what he learned in the six months that he has been leading the debt-ridden power utility.
De Ruyter added that when he first arrived at Eskom, he was “pleasantly surprised” by the caliber of people working there, but that they were demoralised by the events that had taken place over the past 10 years.
Eskom has been battling with load shedding, a maintenance backlog and a debt burden of around R450 billion.
De Ruyter said Eskom’s debt is one of its biggest challenges and has been eroding its profitability. Dealing with the debt will require a “multi-pronged” approach, including improving operational ability to avoid load shedding so that the utility can make electricity sales, resolving disputes with the national energy regulator to be granted “cost-effective tariffs”, as well as recovering debt owed by municipalities.
When asked about the progress on the restructuring of the entity, he said that the boards for the three entities – generation, transmission,and distribution – that have been appointed are operating.
