Eskom turns off power

Clients have no sympathy for ‘useless management’

Eskom implemented stage 1 loadshedding from midday yesterday until 10pm‚ “due to a number of unplanned outages”‚ the electricity utility said yesterday.

Eskom’s debt service costs have doubled in just a single year to R45bn‚ Sowetan’s sister publication Business Day reported this week – highlighting the perilous state of the power utility‚ which supplies about 90% of SA’s energy needs. Eskom has applied to the National Energy Regulator of SA for an electricity tariff hike of 15% per year for the next three years.

Earlier this month‚ the company said 10 out of 15 coal-fired power stations were experiencing supply shortages.

Its coal stockpiles now also face the added risk of getting wet from summer rains.

South Africans are not feeling sympathetic and here is a selection of comments on the Twitter announcement:

IMAT – I Made a Thing? @imatimadeathing – “And so it begins... Our foreseeable life in South Africa. How terribly exciting.”

BTH? @Karoo–dustFollow – “So this is what I pay exorbitant electricity prices for‚ you Eskom‚ are lazy‚ useless and couldn’t manage yourself out of a wet paper bag... always blaming someone else when your lack of management skills‚ badly recruited staff and uselessness are leading to these problems.”

Johan? @johancoe – “When Eskom don’t get what the want they move to extort their customers”.