Eskom CEO André de Ruyter
Photo by: Creamer Media's Donna Slater
The Eskom board has pledged its support for group CE André de Ruyter's decision, on September 3, to suspend the Tutuka and Kendal power station managers, pending disciplinary inquiries.
The decision was taken after load-shedding was escalated from Stage 2 to Stage 4 on September 2 and 3.
Eskom says there is 5 000 MW of capacity currently under planned maintenance, while 12 units totalling 10 950 MW have experienced unplanned breakdowns.
This had culminated in a 3 000 MW energy demand deficit, which was aggravated by higher demand as a result of the cold front that many parts of the country experienced.
“While it is true that the ageing fleet is plagued by legacy issues of neglect and omitted maintenance, and is therefore susceptible to unpredictable breakdowns, it is also true that the situation is being exacerbated by serious issues of apathetic behaviour by some management staff,” the utility states.
During a meeting between the board and executive management of Eskom and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, it was agreed that an urgent culture change and high-level competence enhancement across the utility’s 44 000 staff should be accelerated, promoted and strongly supported.
This while further interventions are ongoing at the Kriel and Duvha power stations.
Eskom says it has held engagements with other power stations managers to ensure that the previous culture of weak consequence management will no longer be tolerated.
De Ruyter has, in the meantime, deployed three senior power generation managers to the Duvha, Kriel, Tutuka and Kendal power stations to provide leadership and oversight in person.