Eskom clocks a R24 billion loss but still wants a new logo
31 October 2023
Corporate dissonance was laid bare today when Eskom, which currently has an open tender for a new logo, announced that it has registered a record-breaking R24 billion net loss for the year ended March 2023.
By getting another qualified audit, Eskom has once again proved that it has no plan to stop the bleeding and has instead resigned itself to the reality that it is a badly run organisation.
The failure to reign in loadshedding means that there won’t be change to Eskom’s financial crisis even if they keep getting double digit and above inflation tariff increases every year. The load shedding is shaving off almost 10% of sales, and hence revenues, from a business that is at least 60% fixed-cost business. In addition to the reduced top-line comes an increased cost of goods sold because of the high diesel usage.
It easy to see why the continuous burning of diesel to run the Open Cycle Gas Turbines is not a sustainable long terms solution to fix loadshedding. This practice is burning a hole in Eskom’s finances and eating away at budgets that could have been better spent on capital projects like the expansion of the transmission network.