Former Eskom chief executive Andre De Ruyter. Photo: Supplied
Four months after Eskom’s chief executive, Andre de Ruyter, resigned, the power utility has made headway in its quest to find his replacement and identified five candidates.
“We’ve been quite advanced in the shortlisting process for the next new chief executive of Eskom, such that we now have a small shortlist of five candidates,” chairperson Mpho Makwana said at a conference on Monday.
De Ruyter quit as Eskom chief executive after three years in December, and amid escalated load-shedding as the utility struggled to generate enough electricity to meet demand. He agreed to stay beyond his stipulated 30-day notice period while the utility tried to find a replacement but was immediately let go by the Eskom board following an explosive TV interview in which he made allegations about rampant corruption at Eskom.
De Ruyter said he had resigned from the utility because he had not received sufficient political backing from the minister he reported to.
A week before he tendered his resignation in December, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe accused De Ruyter of “actively agitating for the overthrow of the State.”
Last year, the most electricity was shed from the national grid to date, with record power cuts leading to public frustration, damaged businesses and prompting calls for resignations at Eskom.
The successful candidate will take over from interim chief executive Calib Cassim, who assumed the position after De Ruyter left.
Cassim said the chief executive’s key objectives would be to stop load-shedding as quickly as possible, and “in a way that we don’t compromise the integrity of the grid”. He added that it was important for the public to start supporting the 40 000 employees at Eskom who get up to do their jobs every day amid the relentless negative publicity.
The incoming chief executive will oversee the unbundling of Eskom, with the power utility being divided into three divisions that handle the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.
The new person will also be expected to help the board reach a 75% energy availability factor, a key measure of plant performance, by the end of the year.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa last week warned of a dark and cold winter if Eskom’s grid remains constrained. He said the utility needed about 6 000 megawatts to bridge the gap between demand and supply.
Ramokgopa said with energy demand expected to increase in winter, the gap could be 10 000MW, which may result in higher stages of load-shedding. He said Eskom’s energy availability factor averages 53%.
“Our initial computations suggest we need about 6 000MW for us to close this gap,” he said.
Eskom’s distribution group executive Monde Bala said Eskom was also working on ensuring that the utility fixed its ailing power stations and did not continue to lose more megawatts.
“Load-shedding is a problem that affects all of us, so it is incumbent on all of us to play our role in dealing with issues of load-shedding,” Bala said.
“So while our colleagues in the generation space are battling to fix the plants and to reduce the levels of these unplanned capacity loss factors to levels that are acceptable, it is equally important for us as consumers, as customers, as people that utilise electricity to do so in a manner that is responsible.”