Where does the solution lie for the ESKOM saga?

Posted on 13 February, 2019 by Administrator

Eskom's headquarters at Megawatt Park in Johannesburg. Picture: Reinart Toerien/EWN

Southern African countries has been having rolling black outs every now and then causing huge disruptions to their economies and dampening investor confidence. The story is the same whether one looks at ESKOM in South Africa, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) in Zimbabwe or Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) in Mozambique. The dilemma for the Southern African Power utilities is that there has been to much focus on addressing technical power issues and no meaningful investment in modern technologies in managing and monitoring their operations from an financial perspective. Modern businesses value the user / customer experience and will invest heavily in ensuring that they receive the utmost attention as they go about their own businesses. This in turn results in better revenue inflows as willing customers meet their obligations to ensure they continue to receive that kind of service.

Enter the rolling black outs that are a common feature in Southern Africa and that trust quickly evaporates as market players start weighing options of investing in the main grid or alternative power systems. The ESKOM saga of the past two weeks has highlighted this dilemma very well. South Africa is a more sophisticated economy compared to two of its struggling neighbours and she can hardly afford the lack of direction / confidence exhibited by the Government (Sole Shareholder) and the Power Utility itself. That things are not in order in ESKOM is abundantly clear. But where does the answer lie?

The answer does not lie in the unbundling of the power utility into Generation, Transmission, Distribution and Services, nor in hiring and firing executives for the umpteenth time, or another wide ranging audit that will not solve the underlying malaise that has afflicted the organisation lately.

The answer lies in getting the fundamentals of running the power industry correct and getting the best to bloom in the company. Politics has killed ESKOM. What is required is to employ a Competent and Experienced Board of Directors with diverse Skills and competences to drive the transformation of this entity into the 21st Century. Remove political interference and concentrate on given clear targets being met and monitored. Monitoring and evaluation of ESKOM or any power utility for that matter requires complex tools and systems all interconnected to the best financial engine to give incisive data for decision making. There are both operational and financial decisions that need to be monitored 24/7/365 in an organisation of that magnitude and importance. The level of automation and upgrade for such an institution should be the best that there is attracting the best minds as employees and contractors.

Currently the situation is the opposite in any of these entities in the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). Politicians must appoint real boards to deal with these automation and decision making issues whilst they concentrate on whether targets have been met or not. Right now all these otherwise gems are weighed down by Political Inefficiency.

Writer - Tjiyapo Velempini - An experienced Information Technology Infrastructure Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in Public Administration and Public Utilities. Highly Skilled in Business Process Re-Engineering , Budgeting, Risk Management, and Business Analysis. A Strong Engineering Professional with a Master of Science in Information Systems Management Degree focused in Information Technology from the University of Liverpool. Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjiyapo/