Grové Steyn’s article (Cancelling part of Kusile could save billions and advance renewables, December 14) refers. Eskom’s recent ratings assessments, while acknowledging significant further improvement in technical performance and cost efficiency, confirm that significant financial challenges remain. The cause is not excessive operational costs as overall cost efficiency remains in line with international benchmarks and improving. Nor is the cause excessive construction costs at Medupi and Kusile. The root cause has been stated by the credit risk assessments since 2008 as "continued delays in implementing tariffs that reflect costs". The cost of renewable electricity is also recovered through tariffs, and will cost Eskom nearly R16bn in the current financial year, at an average price of 215c/kWh, which excludes transmission and distribution costs. Cancelling part of Kusile theoretically only makes sense if the remaining cost to completion, per kilowatt of capacity, and the resultant...
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