Image: Nampak

Eskom has made “key” progress in restructuring the operations of the business, with CEO André de Ruyter saying the power utility is committed to meeting the “ambitious” unbundling target date, which has been set down for 2021.

Speaking at a briefing on the state of Eskom’s power system on Thursday, De Ruyter said the utility’s business model is “outdated”, with Eskom being the “last remaining very large vertically integrated” power utility in the world.

The divisionalisation of the utility into three separate entities — generation, transmission and distribution — is expected to improve the structural and operational efficiencies of the entity, which has been racking up debt and unable to provide reliable power.

Eskom is committed to meeting that timeline and we are working hard to achieving the policy objectives set by our shareholder

He explained that restructuring large companies is not a simple process and could run for two to three years or more as the company considers issues such staff, operational concerns, financial issues, transfer pricing and debt.

Speaking on dividing the R450-billion debt bill between the three divisions, De Ruyter explained that while most of the debt was incurred by generation, due to the ballooning costs of building the Medupi and Kusile power plants, the debt “can’t all stay with generation”.