Eskom delivers power, and profits
Shaun Benton
20 October 2005
South Africa's largest state-owned enterprise, Eskom, reported to Parliament on Wednesday that its group profit after tax had risen to almost R5.2-billion in 2004/05.
The electricity utility also exceeded its electrification target in the same period.
Presenting its annual report to the portfolio committee on public enterprises, an Eskom executive said that by 2005/06, 3.2-million homes would have been electrified since the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 - an average of about 300 000 homes a year.
At the same time, electricity prices in South Africa were among the lowest in the world: they were lower than several highly industrialised countries in North America, Scandinavia and western Europe, the report stated.
The average price of electricity is currently 16.04 South African cents per kilowatt hour, compared with an average of about 9 US cents (about 59 SA cents) charged in Germany and about 7 cents (about 46 SA
cents) charged in the United States.
In terms of scale of activities, the report stated that Eskom was among the top 11 utilities in the world in terms of generation capacity, and among the top seven in the world in terms of sales.
The giant utility's total assets currently amount to R109.2-billion and it employs over 31 000 staff, according to the report.
However, the chief executive told the portfolio committee that Eskom's costs per new electricity connection were now starting to increase, due to the fact that it was now bringing electricity to more rural areas with low population densities and with greater distances to cover.
The utility would also be greatly expanding its generation capacity - to an intended extra 5 304 megawatts by 2009 - and had projected an increase in capital expenditure of over R25-billion by 2009.
At the request of its shareholder, the government, Eskom has changed its financial year from December to March, making this year's
reporting period 15 months long.
In the 2005 financial year to end March, Eskom said it spent R157-million on corporate social responsibility projects, while it spent R10.3-billion on black economic empowerment entities, of which R1.1-billion was spent on black women-owned enterprises.
HIV/Aids continues to be a strategic focus area for the utility, which has contributed R83-million towards research for the development of a vaccine for the virus.
In terms of Eskom's special focus on voluntary, confidential HIV testing and counselling, it noted an HIV prevalence rate of 8.9% of its employees in 1999. By 2003 the prevalence rate was predicted to be as high as 13.5%, but Eskom noted after a follow-up study in 2003 that the prevalence rate stood at 10.7%.
Source: BuaNews
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