Eskom

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Eskom

Type Public utility

Traded as JSE: BIESKM
Industry Energy industry
Founded 1 March 1923; 97 years ago
Headquarters Sunninghill, South Africa
Andre de Ruyter
Key people
(CEO)
Services Electricity
R 179.8 billion (FY2019)[1]
Revenue
US$ 12.4 billion
R-20.7 billion (FY2019)[1]
Net income
US$ -1.4 billion
R 758 billion (FY2019)[1]
Total assets
US$ 52.2 billion
Number of employees 46,665 (FY2019)[1]
Website www.eskom.co.za

Eskom is a South African electricity public utility, established in 1923 as the Electricity
Supply Commission (ESCOM) and also known by its Afrikaans name
Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM), by the South African Government and
people of the Republic of South Africa in terms of the Electricity Act (1922). South Africa
became a Republic in the 1960s. Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African
Power Pool. The utility is the largest producer of electricity in Africa,[2][3] and was among the
top utilities in the world in terms of generation capacity and sales, but has since slipped in
both categories. It is the largest of South Africa's state owned enterprises. Eskom operates a
number of notable power stations, including Medupi Power Station in Lephalale, Kusile
Power Station in Witbank, Kendal Power Station, and Koeberg nuclear power station in the
Western Cape Province, the only nuclear power plant in Africa. The company is divided into
Generation, Transmission and Distribution divisions and together Eskom generates
approximately 95% of electricity used in South Africa, amounting to ~45% used in Africa,[4]
and emits 42% of South Africa's total greenhouse gas emissions.[5][6][7][8]

In 2019, it was announced that Eskom was to be split up into three distinct nationally owned
entities due to huge debts and poor reliability of supply.
Contents
 1 History
o 1.1 First expansion period: 1960-1994
o 1.2 Post-1994 election period: 1994-2007
o 1.3 Energy crisis and second expansion: 2007-present
o 1.4 Logos
 2 Restructuring efforts
o 2.1 Transmission
o 2.2 COSATU response
 3 Installed capacity
o 3.1 Subscribers
o 3.2 Fossil fueled power stations
o 3.3 Renewable and nuclear power stations
o 3.4 Future projects
o 3.5 Investment in renewables
 3.5.1 South Africa's integrated resource plan
 3.5.2 Investment in renewables, hydro, wind, solar
 4 Corporate affairs
o 4.1 Financials
 4.1.1 Debt
 4.1.1.1 Chinese debt
 5 Controversies
o 5.1 Municipal debts
 5.1.1 Soweto
o 5.2 Zimbabwe Power Exports
o 5.3 Power shortage: 2007 - ongoing
o 5.4 2017 corruption scandal
o 5.5 Price increases
 6 See also
 7 Notes
 8 References
 9 Further reading
 10 External links

History
The Congella Power Station completed in 1928 was one of the first power plants built and
owned by Eskom.

Prior to the establishment of Eskom the provision of electricity was dominated by

municipalities and private companies. The city of Kimberley was one of the first users of
public electricity when it installed electric streetlights in 1882 to reduce crime at night.[9]:5
This was followed by Cape Town in 1895 with the construction of the Graaff Electric
Lighting Works to power 775 street lights.

Eskom was founded by a parliamentary act, namely the Electricity Act of 1922, which
allowed the Electricity Control Board to appoint Hendrik Johannes van der Bijl as the
Chairman of the Board.[10] The company changed its name by combining the two acronyms in
its previous name (ESCOM and EVKOM) in 1987 to become known as Eskom.

The Electricity Act stated that Eskom could only sell electricity at cost and but was exempted
from tax with the firm initially raising capital through the issuing of debentures, later issuing
state-guaranteed loans instead. The coal-fired Congella Power Station in Durban and Salt
River Power Station in Cape Town were the first power stations built by Eskom, both
complete in mid-1928.[11]

One of Eskom's first power plants was a coal-fired 128 MW station in Witbank completed in
1935 to provide power to the mining industry. The plant was built and run in partnership with
the privately owned Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company which owned a number of
other power plants across the country. Thanks to state support Eskom was able to buy out the
Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company in 1948 for £14.5 million (roughly equivalent
to £2.55 billion in 2017). Following World War 2 South Africa experienced power shortages
that led to Eskom negotiating power saving agreements with the mining industry in June
1948.[9]:6