Eskom answers questions about Nersa's solar power user tariff plans and grid connection fees

[mypetcow]

I wouldn't have invested in solar if Eskom was properly managed.
They used to be one of the cheapest in the world, had lots of excess capacity, and were reliable.

And then came the anc........

1. It was all subsidized, i.e. Eskom pre 1994 was running at a loss year on year since it was founded. By design. They were increasing their overdraft every year borrowing money from the SA government and foreign investors.
Pick an annual report at random and look at the annual financial statement and cash flow: https://www.eskom.co.za/heritage/annual-and-statistical-reports/

2. Lots of excess capacity for the white population. Don’t forget that nobody else had luxuries like electricity.

3. I guess you’re right. The ANC is to blame because they chose to provide South Africans with a non-white skin color with electricity. At least they thought it was unjust and did something about it.

You make it out like the pre 1994 government was a perfect government and practically a savior to every South African. Yes if you were white. If not tough luck.

 

[Lupus]

1. It was all subsidized, i.e. Eskom pre 1994 was running at a loss year on year since it was founded. By design. They were increasing their overdraft every year borrowing money from the SA government and foreign investors.
Pick an annual report at random and look at the annual financial statement and cash flow: https://www.eskom.co.za/heritage/annual-and-statistical-reports/

2. Lots of excess capacity for the white population. Don’t forget that nobody else had luxuries like electricity.

3. I guess you’re right. The ANC is to blame because they chose to provide South Africans with a non-white skin color with electricity. At least they thought it was unjust and did something about it.

You make it out like the pre 1994 government was a perfect government and practically a savior to every South African. Yes if you were white. If not tough luck.

2. Is incorrect by 1994 50% of all South Africans had power, considering by the mid 90s there was a possible 40GW of power, the ANC has only managed 35% more households in 28 years and haven't added any spare capacity.
So no electricity wasn't limited to the whites, as even in the 90s I knew plenty of white households who didn't have it either if they stayed out in the bundus.

 

[cda]

So wait, eskom want you to pay THEM to supply into the grid? Wow, only in Africa

 

[Lupus]

So wait, eskom want you to pay THEM to supply into the grid? Wow, only in Africa

No apparently they believe solar users will use more power at night??

 

[AchmatK]

Yeah, probably. But if your consumption drops by 90/95/100%, the only reason can be a solar system.
So you cannot install one unnoticed as the person I was replying to was asking.

21 months on solar and 4 years without using CoCT water. No issues from CoCT. They just seems someone to read the meter every month.

They replaced my water meter 3 times thinking it was faulty as my water usage was zero. On the fourth time I was home and told them it's not faulty and I'm not using their water. They didn't come back to replace it after that. The only time I used CoCT water was when I was having issues with my pumps.

Savings from solar and water is already over R170k over the last 4 years.

 

[SauRoNZA]

It's a once off fee, not billed monthly. Eskom is looking for a recurring payment...

No, it’s a monthly fee of R150-odd.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

No, it’s a monthly fee of R150-odd.

Referring to the R5,000 once off fee for solar installations. But you're right I probably misinterpreted his post...

 

[AchmatK]

Referring to the R5,000 once off fee for solar installations. But you're right I probably misinterpreted his post...

It's R10k for the bidirectional meter in CoCT.

 

[Blackhand]

Corrupt state owned monopoly behaves like corrupt state owned monopoly, *shocked*.

 

[porchrat]

3. I guess you’re right. The ANC is to blame because they chose to provide South Africans with a non-white skin color with electricity. At least they thought it was unjust and did something about it.

You make it out like the pre 1994 government was a perfect government and practically a savior to every South African. Yes if you were white. If not tough luck.

The ANC and the practice of cadre deployment is directly to blame for the situation Eskom finds itself in.

I don't think anyone is saying SA citizens shouldn't be supplied with electricity or that that's where Eskom went wrong. Most appear tot be saying that the utility has been poorly managed under the ANC's watch. The Eskom generating fleet has deteriorated to the point that more than half of it is broken down at any one point and it is nearly R400 billion rand in debt.

It may leave a bitter taste in your mouth, but under that disgusting Apartheid government Eskom was run efficiently. I don't agree with that old government's stance on how black people should be treated, but I can acknowledge that they were so very much better at running organisations than the ANC are (honestly, it's not that hard to be better than the ANC, just don't steal everything that isn't nailed down and you will be better). There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that. Hitler was a madman, but I'll be damned if he wasn't very very good at mobilising the German nation. Credit where it's due, and condemnation where it's due.

 

[mypetcow]

The Eskom generating fleet has deteriorated to the point that more than half of it is broken down at any one point and it is nearly R400 billion rand in debt.

It may leave a bitter taste in your mouth, but under that disgusting Apartheid government Eskom was run efficiently. I don't agree with that old government's stance on how black people should be treated, but I can acknowledge that they were so very much better at running organisations than the ANC are

See point 1. of my post above. The debt was by design even in pre 1994 times. Eskom was always in debt and always not able to service it. They has to always each year borrow more money to run Eskom and to pay for salaries, coal, etc.
I don’t know how that is any different minus the lacking maintenance in recent years and a much larger population than in 1994 (over all demographics) which leads to a greater demand.

I don’t know about you but if you have keep borrowing money year on year just to keep your business running then it’s not a business….it’s a service. Like the police or the library both of which aren’t ‘profitable’ and always need more money each year from government.

 

[Paul_S]

See point 1. of my post above. The debt was by design even in pre 1994 times. Eskom was always in debt and always not able to service it. They has to always each year borrow more money to run Eskom and to pay for salaries, coal, etc.
I don’t know how that is any different minus the lacking maintenance in recent years and a much larger population than in 1994 (over all demographics) which leads to a greater demand.

I don’t know about you but if you have keep borrowing money year on year just to keep your business running then it’s not a business….it’s a service. Like the police or the library both of which aren’t ‘profitable’ and always need more money each year from government.

That's no different to all the borrowing Eskom has done under ANC rule. The only problem is that there's hardly anything to show for the R300+ billion borrowed to build two almost useless power stations (unless you count the sports cars and mansions of course).

Then to add insult to injury the price of electricity has gone through the roof to service the debt of those useless monoliths.

 

[itareanlnotani]

Dont worry the city of its Cape Town with its Bylaws will slap you with soo many rules about using solar panels, you will just give up. I know of a user that can run 10MW or power but limited by the City to only 1MW

That was a NERSA thing, not a CoCT thing.

They should be able to run up to 100MW now with the new rules in place from NERSA.

 

[itareanlnotani]

The only business that gets to charge you for not using their product.

Gets better if you don't have their product installed (i.e. a grid connection), they are now trying to force you to install it, even if you don't need it.

 

[porchrat]

See point 1. of my post above. The debt was by design even in pre 1994 times. Eskom was always in debt and always not able to service it. They has to always each year borrow more money to run Eskom and to pay for salaries, coal, etc.
I don’t know how that is any different minus the lacking maintenance in recent years and a much larger population than in 1994 (over all demographics) which leads to a greater demand.

I don’t know about you but if you have keep borrowing money year on year just to keep your business running then it’s not a business….it’s a service. Like the police or the library both of which aren’t ‘profitable’ and always need more money each year from government.

Even if Eskom were in debt back then, the scale of the increase in debt compared to how it was managed under the previous government is very clearly also an issue here.

Heck, forget even the previous government. It's really only spiraled out of control since the mid 2000s when the relationship between the Eskom board and government changed. Eskom had something like R30 billion in debt in the mid 2000s. Now it's up to R400 billion odd.

That's more than a 1000% increase in about 15 years. While you might hide behind "oh but it was always in debt", that debt was clearly managed very very differently by the 2 governments and the massive debt problem is a relatively recent situation brought about by ineptitude and corruption when building white elephant power stations that break down more frequently than the stations from the 80s. One government handled it responsibly, the other very irresponsibly. By the way during that period employee numbers continued to sky rocket while not a single watt of new generating capacity was added to the grid. More salaries, less productivity.

I'm sorry man, the utility was run far more responsibility under the previous regime than it has been under this one in pretty much every aspect. It's simply not something that's up for debate.

Though heck, at least you've acknowledged the current regimes poor maintenance relative to the old one. That's something I suppose.

 

[Vrotappel]

1. It was all subsidized, i.e. Eskom pre 1994 was running at a loss year on year since it was founded. By design. They were increasing their overdraft every year borrowing money from the SA government and foreign investors.
Pick an annual report at random and look at the annual financial statement and cash flow: https://www.eskom.co.za/heritage/annual-and-statistical-reports/

2. Lots of excess capacity for the white population. Don’t forget that nobody else had luxuries like electricity.

3. I guess you’re right. The ANC is to blame because they chose to provide South Africans with a non-white skin color with electricity. At least they thought it was unjust and did something about it.

You make it out like the pre 1994 government was a perfect government and practically a savior to every South African. Yes if you were white. If not tough luck.

BS

 

[Martin 007]

That's why I want to escape far from control and taxes for non performance. Soon coming, paying an enormous fixed rate and then only getting power when Eskom feels like it.

 

[mypetcow]

BS

Lol. I guess you didn’t pick out an annual report at random and want to believe in the existence of the white unicorn the apartheid government supposedly was

 

[konfab]

1. It was all subsidized, i.e. Eskom pre 1994 was running at a loss year on year since it was founded. By design. They were increasing their overdraft every year borrowing money from the SA government and foreign investors.
Pick an annual report at random and look at the annual financial statement and cash flow: https://www.eskom.co.za/heritage/annual-and-statistical-reports/

2. Lots of excess capacity for the white population. Don’t forget that nobody else had luxuries like electricity.

3. I guess you’re right. The ANC is to blame because they chose to provide South Africans with a non-white skin color with electricity. At least they thought it was unjust and did something about it.

You make it out like the pre 1994 government was a perfect government and practically a savior to every South African. Yes if you were white. If not tough luck.

B.S

The two brand new power stations built by Eskom under the ANC are less reliable than the 30 year old stations built by Eskom under the NP.

Energy expert Chris Yelland notes that there are several issues with the two megaprojects that were initially designed as part of a series of undertakings intended to boost Eskom's generation capacity by roughly 50%. Chief among the problems is the fact that even when the incomplete stations are running, their production levels mirror or fall short of some of Eskom's oldest power plants, he said.


He likened this to buying a new car, and expecting it to run very well for 85% of the time that you own it - only to find that you bought a lemon, which runs acceptably just 60% of the time.

Medupi and Kusile performing worse than some of Eskom's older power stations | Fin24

The multi-billion rand mega power stations Eskom commissioned in 2007, Medupi and Kusile, should take a large portion of the blame for the power utility's failure to keep the country supplied with electricity.

www.news24.com

Had the ANC just given Eskom the mandate to provide cheap electricity, that is what we would actually have. Instead the ANC imposed its transformationist ideology on Eskom.

Instead of being rewarded for providing cheap electricity, Eskom was rewarded by getting rid of any employee with the wrong skin colour.

 

[chrisc]

City of Cape Town made all solar users get a COC for the installation some years back. I presume for CT residents who had this done, a second Eskom inspection will be unnecessary?

The electrician who fitted the system and rewired it was trained in Australia and did not have a CT compliance /registration number. Another fellow came along, looked at it for 5 mins and charged R1500