PARLIAMENT - Eskom remained in dire financial straits as it tries to claw back billions lost to corrupt activities, non-payment for electricity by both consumers, big customers and municipalities, Eskom board chairman and acting chief executive Jabu Mabuza told members of Parliament (MPs) on Wednesday.
Briefing Parliament's public enterprises portfolio committee, Mabuza presented Eskom's annual report containing the audited financial statements and reflected on the R21 billion loss, 30 days of loadshedding and R6.5 billion in diesel spend to minimise the impact of loadshedding for the financial year ended March 2019.
While Eskom tries to recover money following years of corruption, with Mabuza saying thousands of cases have been referred to the Special Investigating Unit and passed on to the National Prosecuting Authority, the entity also insists the culture of non-payment was starting to add up as municipal debt to Eskom had breached the R20 billion mark.
"Our formula is broken. We not selling what we've produced, if we selling it people aren't paying for it...," he said.
In addition, Mabuza said electricity sales simply were not covering what it took to produce the power.
"Our revenue has grown by three percent. Our sales have actually gone negative by just under two percent...between what we sell and revenue, the gap is what price are we selling it at," he told MPs.
Mabuza updated MPs on the plan to unbundle Eskom and split it into three separate entities, saying it was still going ahead, minus job losses. The details would be presented to the country by President Cyril Ramaphosa in a paper speaking to the unbundling next month, MPs were told.