Eskom Reports Half-Year Profit, But Municipalities Owing Over R 40 Billion
Eskom has reported a half-year profit for the first time since 2017.
The power utility announced its financial results on Wednesday afternoon.
Eskom achieved R9.2 billion net profit after tax, up from the R0.2 billion last year.
Eskom Group Chief Executive, André de Ruyter said revenue also increased to R135billion, a 24.2% growth from R108.7billion in September 2020.
“As we continue to drive our immediate priorities as outlined in the Eskom Turnaround Plan, the reported progress in some of the key areas of the plan places us in a good position on the road to long-term sustainability.”
Unpacking the financial performance, Chief Financial Officer, Calib Cassim, explained that Eskom has obtained R16.6 billion of its borrowing programme for the current financial year.
Cassim said the power utility intends raising total funding of R41.9 billion by 31 March 2022 to strengthen its liquidity position.
On the issue of municipal debt, Cassim says very limited success has been realised in managing outstanding municipal debt, which has escalated to unsustainable levels with municipalities owing R40.9 billion as at 30 September 2021.
“It is clear Eskom cannot solve municipal debt challenges on its own. Continued support and cooperation from government and all key stakeholders is crucial to address the root causes of the problem.”
Despite the substantial improvement in net profit, Eskom forecasts a net loss after tax of R9.1 billion at financial year end in March 2022.
Eskom said generation performance remains a challenge with high levels of unplanned losses, resulting in energy availability factor (EAF) reducing to 65.27%, which resulted in load shedding for 21 days, a 4% reduction in GWh shed
