Cosatu welcomes Eskom's decision to offer reduced rates to Samancor Chrome and Glencore-Merafe Chrome

The Congress of South African trade Unions (Cosatu) has welcomed Eskom’s decision to offer a reduced electricity tariff of 62 cents per kilowatt-hour to ferrochrome producers Samancor Chrome and the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture.

The new proposed rate is much lower than the current charge of R1.36 cents per kilowatt-hour.

This is part of a five-year assistance plan which aims to shield the companies from rising electricity costs and prevent planned retrenchments.

Cosatu parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parks, says the union is now awaiting approval from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

Parks says the approval could lead to the reopening of suspended smelters, potentially creating over 11-thousand direct jobs and more than one hundred thousand indirect jobs.

"This progressive intervention will not only address the imminent threat of the companies’ Section 189 retrenchments, which would have seen thousands of workers lose their jobs.  Once approved by the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) it will provide welcome relief to workers at these companies whilst simultaneously enabling them to reopen previously mothballed smelters. COSATU applauds the commitments by the parties to find solutions and provide space for further engagements on a sustainable permanent plan for a long festering crisis," said Parks.