When Brian Molefe was still at Transnet, he insisted on converting the freight rail utility’s coal mining clients into take-or-pay customers. Now, at Eskom, Molefe is finding out what it is like to be at the other end of a tricky take-or-pay contract, with the power utility paying over R6.7-billion in 2014/15 for coal that its much-delayed Medupi power station is not fully able to convert into revenue-generating electricity.