The Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has warned they could spend more than R30 billion on diesel if they continue to burn it at the rate they are doing now.
He said while they had projected to spend R30bn this year on diesel, the number could go up if the other units in other power stations do not come back on stream.
The diesel was running Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCTGs) to alleviate the pressure of coal-fired power stations.
But Ramokgopa said if the situation did not change, government would have to fork out more on diesel.
However, they are working on a model on extra funds that would be needed for diesel if they go beyond the R30bn that was given to Eskom.
These were the funds that were appropriated by Parliament after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced the cash injection to Eskom to deal with the energy crisis.
Ramokgopa, who was briefing the media on Friday, said they were burning diesel at the moment to ease the pressure on the power stations.
“If we were to run these OCTGs on load greater than what Eskom’s projections were, remember that the rate at which we burn them is a function of the performance of other units. If these other units are not coming on stream it means that we are going to run these almost like a baseload,” said Ramokgopa.
He added that said they were busy working out how much more they would need for diesel if they go above the R30bn that was given to Eskom by the Treasury.
“We are doing that projection. But at the current figures, if we were to continue at the rate at which we are doing, that R30bn might not be sufficient,” he said.
They are now working out the extra funds that they will need.
He said there were two places where money could come from.
One is the tariffs and the other is the fiscus.
But they will report on it later once they have finalised that work.