Ring-fence Eskom’s ‘bad bank’ generation assets, says energy expert

A leading electricity expert is warning that there is little or no prospect that Eskom can trade itself out of its current financial difficulties and that restructuring – including a vertical separation of its cash-guzzling generation assets from its transmission, system operator and distribution units – is now both urgent and practically implementable. Likening the generation business to a ‘bad bank’, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business’ Professor Anton Eberhard argued this week that the power stations should be “ring-fenced” to prevent ongoing financial contamination of the “heart of the system”; the grid and the system operator.