Court dismisses Eskom's appeal in Framatome arbitration, confirms R1 billion payout

POWER utility Eskom argues that a Supreme Court of Appeal judgement has become conflated with an arbitration process and that there are two, separate, matters ongoing at the same time and that the ruling was handed down after it paid the debt.

- NICOLA MAWSON

This follows a matter recently heard in the Western Cape High Court during which Eskom challenged what was a rather messy process of arbitration, which led to an order from the arbitrator that Eskom owed Framatome money for breaching a contract.

Framatome had been hired to install steam generators at Koeberg nuclear power station.

In an October 2021 matter before the Supreme Court of Appeal, Framatome was successful in an appeal to set aside a high court ruling stating that Eskom was in breach of a contract and had to pay out billions in damages for cancelling a deal during which Framatome was set to install steam generators at Koeberg nuclear power station.

This was followed by an appeal in the Western Cape High Court during which Eskom argued that the “adjudicator did not decide the first respondent’s [Framatome’s] monetary claim within the time period for issuing a decision”.