No load shedding, just burning diesel to keep lights on

Eskom is in a good space and South Africans shouldn't worry about the utility burning through billions of rands of diesel to keep the lights on.

- Faizel Patel

This is according to Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, addressing the media on the state of the electricity grid yesterday.

He cited improvements in performance and stability across the national grid, despite Eskom spending billions on diesel.

Ramokgopa said it's no secret that Eskom experienced "significant challenges".

"At the beginning of April, we relied more on the diesel to be able to support us," he said.

Ramokgopa said Eskom has a budget of R12 billion for diesel and so far has spent just below half of that.

"We've spent about R5 billion. Then, the next question you'll ask, but you said at the beginning of the financial year, we have spent close to over 40% of your annual allocation," he said.