Business Day reporting that Eskom’s debt “is the most impossible of conundrums the utility and the government face” merits a response (“Will last week’s gazetting of 11,800MW of new power end the energy crisis? (https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/2020-09-29-will-last-weeks-gazetting-of-11800mw-of-new-power-end-the-energy-crisis/)”, September 29).

To begin with, it is completely incorrect. A solution was spelt out in the Treasury discussion paper of August 2019 — selling off Eskom’s coal power stations and realising R450bn. The value is determined by the power purchase agreement, which would be part and parcel of the sale. The original thesis was proposed in 2018 by Tobias Bischof-Niemz and Johan van den Berg, and Greenpeace published a similar plan that drew on international experience. ..

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