Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa has defended Eskom's R12.4 billion diesel spend over the past four months, saying fuel needed to be burned to protect SA's economy.
Since the beginning of April, the power utility has spent R12.4 billion on either burning diesel at its peaking plants or buying electricity generated from independent producers using diesel. The minister said the power utility had planned three key interventions to keep load shedding as low as possible during winter: trying to make plants run better, reducing demand, and burning diesel.