Eskom spent R5.26bn on diesel since April: ‘Loadshedding may return in August’ - Matthew Cruise, energy expert
“I still see that there could be some potential loadshedding coming up in August between stage two to stage four,” warns Matthew Cruise, an energy expert at IMPOWER.
FILE: Eskom's Megawatt Park in Johannesburg. Picture: Eyewitness News
702 and CapeTalk's Africa Melane speaks to energy expert Matthew Cruise.
Listen below:
Cruise says it's concerning that Eskom has already spent R5.26 billion on fuel for its open-cycle gas turbine fleet this financial year.
"... from the 1st of April until now... roughly three-and-a-half months... they've already spent R5 billion, which is double what they spent last year."
- Matthew Cruise, energy expert - IMPOWER
He says this is partly because the thinking behind burning diesel has changed.
"... they've been firing diesel to make up for the shortfall... just Monday last week, we had stage three being mitigated by diesel..."
- Matthew Cruise, energy expert - IMPOWER
Cruise says doing so is unsustainable.
"It remains to be seen how the breakdowns are looking, and I project that, unfortunately, as time moves on, we'll have more and more breakdowns from the old power stations... There could be some potential loadshedding coming up in August between stages two and four."
- Matthew Cruise, energy expert - IMPOWER
In a statement on 11 July 2025, Eskom said: "The Winter Outlook, published on 5 May 2025, covering the period ending 31 August 2025, remains valid. It indicates that loadshedding will not be necessary if unplanned outages stay below 13,000MW. If outages rise to 15,000MW, loadshedding would be limited to a maximum of 21 days out of 153 days and restricted to Stage two."
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