Power Crisis

Eskom may seek 34% tariff hike

Eskom is set to seek a 34% hike in electricity tariffs, back from the 88% rise it had been considering due to the global economic slowdown, a newspaper says.

Electricity usage down in Dec

Estimated consumption of electricity in December 2008 fell by 8.4% compared with December 2007 to 17 556 gigawatt-hours, Statistics SA says.

No load shedding for 9 months

Eskom says the last year has been an extremely challenging one, but it managed to raise its coal stocks, which resulted in no load shedding since April 2008.

• Households crank up power usage
• Electricity production down
• Power crisis cost SA about R50bn

Law may demand energy savings

Eskom considers proposing legislation which will force companies to cut their electricity usage by about 10%, says a representative.

Eskom gets R2.8bn from Germans

Eskom will use money borrowed from a German bank to finance a new power station in Lephalale.