Govt insists public won't shoulder cost of Eskom's R440bn infrastructure overhaul

JOHANNESBURG - Government insists the public won’t have to shoulder the cost of Eskom’s R440 billion infrastructure overhaul.
 
On Tuesday, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa unveiled a decade-long plan to expand and upgrade the utility’s transmission network.
 
It includes 14,000 kilometres of new power lines, hundreds of transformers, and an extra 3,000 megawatts added to the grid.
  
The first phase, set to roll out within a year, is expected to add more than 1,600 kilometres of new lines and introduce independent transmission providers to the network.
 
Government said these providers would shoulder much of the cost through competitive bidding, a move aimed at limiting the impact on consumers.
 
"It’s a delicate balancing act, that is why the pilot is going to give us significant insight and over a period of time, we should be able to ramp up," Ramokgopa said.

The plan has a deadline of August 2029.

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