Loadshedding
Eskom’s Net Profit Surges in First Half of Financial Year
Eskom has disclosed its interim results for the six months starting September 30, 2023. Despite ongoing financial and operational challenges, the beleaguered power utility reported a net profit of R1.6 billion.
Jacaranda FM reports that the power utility’s revenue witnessed growth, reaching R158.6 billion, primarily attributed to the positive impact of the tariff increase for the 2024 financial year, marking a 9.5% increase from September 2022’s R144.8 billion.
However, sales volumes experienced a 5.9% decline, influenced by supply constraints and reduced electricity demand due to challenging economic conditions.
Various factors, including non-technical losses such as electricity theft through illegal connections and meter tampering, contributed to the drop in sales volumes.
On Wednesday evening, Eskom acknowledged that its debt remains unsustainably high.
Also read: Eskom Leadership Rallying Behind Dan Marokane for CEO Role
The government committed R78 billion in debt relief for the 2024 financial year. It received R16 billion in August, R20 billion in October, and R5 billion in December 2023.
The rest of the bailout will be disbursed over this financial year.
Eskom’s Acting Group Chief Executive, Calib Cassim, stated that the debt relief measures will enhance the entity’s financial sustainability.
Cassim emphasised, “Government’s debt relief solution will go a long way towards improving Eskom’s financial sustainability and liquidity in the short to medium term, the impact of which we have already seen with the recent credit upgrades. We continue to execute our turnaround plan to improve financial and operational performance in the medium to long term.”
“Our overall focus remains on improving the performance of the Generation fleet to reduce the level of loadshedding being experienced by the country, and to limit the amount spent on supplementing capacity through the use of the expensive diesel plant,” Cassim added.
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Picture: X / Powerfm987
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