About the earlier 5 and a half months, the volume of diesel Eskom has burnt at its open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) energy stations was enough to fill the gasoline tanks of about 41,000 Toyota Hilux bakkies or all-around 74,000 Volkswagen Polos every day.
Through a current update on the point out of the country’s ability system, Eskom chief functioning officer Jan Oberholzer disclosed the utility had spent all around R7.7 billion on diesel from April 2022.
For comparison, figures beforehand shared by community enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan showed that Eskom paid out R6.407 billion on diesel in excess of the overall 2021 monetary yr.
Eskom experienced burnt by means of extra than 571 million litres of diesel previous 12 months.
Gordhan also revealed that Eskom eaten yet another 273 million litres of diesel in the initial 5 months of 2022. That experienced charge the utility R3.843 billion, doing work out to roughly R14.08 per litre.
Eskom buys diesel at wholesale rates and gets a price reduction for acquiring in bulk, which is why it pays noticeably considerably less than motorists.
Dividing the R7.7 billion in expenditure from April 2022 to September 2022 demonstrates that Eskom has bought about 546.82 million litres of diesel for the calendar year-to-day.
Divide that determine by the 164 times that have passed among 1 April 2022 and 11 September 2022, and you conclusion up with 3.33 million litres eaten each individual day.
To set these quantities into perspective, we calculated how quite a few regular automobile tanks you could fill.
Most non-modified Hilux bakkies boast a tank ability of 80 litres.
That indicates you could have loaded around 41,678 Hilux bakkies with the diesel Eskom acquired for its OCGTs each and every day of the year up to 11 September 2022.
Having said that, the Hilux’s tank is a little bit greater than the common automobile sold in South Africa.
A Volkswagen Polo TDI has a 45-litre tank, which is a single of the most prevalent measurements for mid-sized hatchbacks and little SUVs in the region.
The average of 3.33 million litres Eskom consumed for every working day would be adequate to fill 74,094 tanks, with a number of litres to spare.
If the most inexpensive automobile in South Africa — Suzuki’s S-Presso — was made available with a diesel engine and it had the exact same 27-litre capability, you would be able to fill up 123,490 units.
Way in excess of budget
Even though the precise quantity of litres bought is most likely decreased mainly because diesel charges have shot up in new months, the expenditure would make for frightening examining on its very own.
Oberholzer acknowledged Eskom’s reliance on OCGTs was significantly way too great, and the utility could not pay for to invest as significantly as it has been on diesel.
“It’s really a severe issue that we do have…We are way about what we have approximated and forecasted the expenditure will be,” Oberholzer stated.
“We’ve acquired R350 million left of the initial year’s funds, and we are only mid-way by way of the yr.”
But Oberholzer claimed the utility did not really have a alternative. “It’s actually a rough position the place uncover ourselves,” he mentioned.
“You never have the funds, but you require to utilise your emergencies simply because you never have the capability to supply the nation.”