South Africa stands to gain much from the tax in terms of both monetary and environmental benefits, but business warns of job losses.
While Eskom nestles on a R50-billion pile of money, everyone from manufacturers to residents are reeling as rising electricity prices hit home.
Government says it has not made a decision yet on the number of nuclear power stations to be built or which vendors would be used for such projects.
The age of green power has finally arrived in South Africa and unlikely candidate Eskom is paving the way for the alternative energy industry.
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/ 19 September 2011
A court ruling in favour of Eskom in a wage dispute shows it is aligned with the interests of big capital, the World Federation of Trade Unions says.
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/ 19 September 2011
The Labour Court has turned down an urgent application by NUM to stop Eskom from implementing a 7% unilateral wage increase.
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/ 18 September 2011
The Labour Court in Johannesburg is expected to rule on Monday on an urgent application brought against Eskom by the National Union of Mineworkers.
About 1 500 people marched to the offices Eskom and BHP Billiton in Jo’burg to protest against the way they affected the environment.
Despite criticism the department of energy appears determined to go ahead with the building of two peaking power plants at a cost of R8-billion.
Brian Dames, the CEO of Eskom, and five others suffered minor injuries when their helicopter crashed near Morwaneng, 45km from Groblersdal.
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/ 8 September 2011
NUM workers at Eskom are preparing to strike after wage talks failed, but Eskom says it is protected by its status as an essential service provider.
More than 16 000 Eskom workers are getting ready to strike after a deadlock in wage negotiations, says the National Union of Mineworkers.
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/ 1 September 2011
The NUM says Eskom’s "unilateral" implementation of a two-year, 7% wage agreement is a declaration of war, and it would put up a fight.
Eskom chief executive Brian Dames warned that the utility faced a long summer of maintenance of its power plants, increasing the risk of load-shedding
Eskom has been given a R980 840 000 loan that it says will go towards financing the 100MW Sere Wind Project in the Western Cape.
Electricity will be "increasingly tight" until Eskom’s new power stations come onto the grid in 2012, says Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba.
Samwu and the NUM are continuing their strikes against their employers, leaving services, electricity supply and mining output in the lurch.
Transnet and Eskom bonds are now more highly rated than US government bonds, according to the latest ratings by Fitch and Moody’s Investments.
Judge Frans Kgomo has ordered state utility Eskom to release details of an undisclosed pricing deal with mining giant BHP Billiton, media reports say.
The NUM says wage talks with Eskom have collapsed and it will ask its members for a mandate to strike. But Eskom says downing tools would be illegal.
Eskom has increased its wage offer to unions, in a bid to prevent a prolonged strike that could cut power and bring disaster to the economy.
Australia announced its introduction of a carbon tax last week and South Africa’s plans for an emissions tax are reasonably advanced.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not the poor residents of Soweto who steal the most electricity in South Africa — it is commercial enterprises.
The NUM says it is being ignored by Eskom, which has raised executive salaries by 109% in the past year, and warned of "the mother of all strikes".
Eskom’s has said its executive remuneration was below the average of listed companies of equal size.
Eskom has responded to Greenpeace’s coal-dumping protest at Megawatt Park, insisting it was vigorously implementing renewable energy strategies.
Eskom’s approved capital investment programme, which includes the capacity expansion programme, is the largest individual stimulus to the economy.
The regional strategy head of Anglo American has said Eskom could run out of domestic coal in the long term if there is no infrastructure development.
Business leaders were caught on the back foot by the government’s sweeping changes to the Eskom board.
The Public Enterprises Ministry has blamed the media for government’s failure to consult leaders of state-owned enterprises before dismissing them.
Cosatu has called on Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba to suspend his appointments to the Eskom board until the unions have been consulted.
The South African Chamber of Mines has expressed surprise at the government’s decision to appoint Zola Tsotsi as new chairperson of Eskom.