Category: Energy
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Sasol cashes in on war-driven fuel price surge
Sasol, the world’s largest coal-to-fuel producer, is benefiting from higher oil prices sparked by the Iran war, while its refining output has become central to South Africa’s fuel security. With Middle East imports stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, Sasol’s Secunda plant has ramped up production to its highest level in five years. The company,…
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Ramaphosa finally forces Eskom to stop being referee and player
For a century, Eskom has generated South Africa’s electricity, owned the wires that carry it, and sold it to customers – a conflict of interest that helped produce the rolling blackouts we came to call load shedding. On Friday, President Ramaphosa endorsed a plan to finally separate the transmission grid into an independent operator, making…
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Rooftop solar boom pushes South Africa toward a new energy era
South Africans have quietly built the equivalent of another Medupi or Kusile on their own rooftops – rooftop solar capacity reached 9,107.4MW by June 2026, up 35% year-on-year, driven by falling battery prices and Eskom’s above-inflation tariffs rather than load-shedding this time. The flip side is Eskom’s “death spiral”: as paying customers self-generate, its shrinking…
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Eskom’s monopoly crumbles, “death spiral” looms as SA business flocks to private power
South Africa’s energy shift: Off-gridding, solar mini-grids, and rising inequalityBloomberg’s Bonolo Mokonoto charts how South Africa’s corporate sector has quietly ended Eskom’s century-long grip on power supply. With over 40 JSE-listed firms announcing renewables plans this year alone, companies like Impala Platinum are turning to wheeling and solar to dodge both unreliable local grids and…
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By the numbers: Eskom’s performance under Cyril’s presidency
From blackouts to breakthroughs, Eskom’s journey over the past decade has reshaped South Africa’s power landscape. When President Cyril Ramaphosa took office after Jacob Zuma, the utility was deep in debt, struggling with ageing infrastructure and worsening load-shedding. Years of worsening outages pushed households and businesses to the brink, while policy debates intensified. A major…
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The hollowing out of Eskom: De Ruyter’s prophecy becomes reality
André de Ruyter warned this would happen. As Eskom CEO, he flagged the risk of a revenue death spiral — major customers fleeing to private power, leaving the utility stranded with ballooning municipal debt and no reliable income base. It’s no longer a warning. As MyBroadband reports, Namibia is building green hydrogen capacity at scale.…
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Eskom bets on mines and factories to drive green agenda
This article was first published by Business Day South Africa’s state power utility Eskom has launched Eskom Green, a dedicated renewable energy platform targeting the mining and manufacturing sectors through long-term power purchase agreements. Group CEO Dan Marokane says the initiative, benchmarked against 20 international utilities, builds on Eskom’s decades of generation expertise. With an…
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De Ruyter vindicated: Australia leaves SA in the dark on electricity pricing
When André de Ruyter argued that Australia’s renewable energy revolution offered lessons for South Africa, critics fired back that electricity in Australia was roughly twice the price of Eskom’s. They were wrong — and the numbers have moved further against that argument since. MyBroadband’s analysis shows that a decade of above-inflation Eskom tariff hikes, 179%…
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Sputla wants to treble free basic electricity allowance for SA households
Key topics: Govt reviewing Free Basic Electricity, may raise to 150kWh/month Eskom and experts push higher target (200–350kWh proposed) Mismanagement and theft limit access for eligible households By Myles Illidge Electricity and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa revealed that his department was considering adjusting the Free Basic Electricity (FBE) allocation to 150 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month. Responding to…