In 2013, Eskom had 2,500 engineers. There are now 1,500, and on average 200 individuals with critical skills are quitting each month
10 August 2022 - 16:04
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A dilapidated sign outside the Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. Acacia electrical substation in the Monte Vista district of Cape Town, South Africa. Picture: Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg
Eskom’s by-product is electricity. Its real role is to employ 40,000 mainly unskilled and militant employees.
In 2003 Eskom generated about 39,000MW with 31,000 employees, and over the next decade-and-a-half it hired another 17,000 employees while actual generation fell.
According to Singh & Fehrs’ 2001 analysis of US Energy Information Administration data, the average coal-fired power plant employs 0.18 people in operations and maintenance per megawatt of peak capacity on a permanent basis. Thus, the average 300MW coal-fired power plant would employ about 54 people.
Therefore, with a capacity of 39,000MW Eskom should need about 7,100 people to run the coal operated fleet, and a further 600 for Koeberg — 7,700 people in total.
The American Electric Power utility generates about the same amount of power as Eskom (38,000MW) with a total of 16,000 employees, and that includes 63,000km of transmission lines.
Most of us would imagine that a power utility company would employ mainly technical skills. In 2013 Eskom had 2,500 engineers. There are now 1,500, and on average 200 individuals with critical skills are quitting each month.
Who is responsible for this? The buck stops with Elsie Pule, the Eskom HR executive (a qualified social worker) who over the past 10 years has hired 13,000 people the utility did not need, chased away half of its engineers, and in2015 removed 3,400 white employees as they did not meet demographic targets.
Pule needs to resign, Eskom has failed on her watch, and as we all know in every company it’s about the people.
Rob Tiffin Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Eskom’s HR executive is a huge problem
In 2013, Eskom had 2,500 engineers. There are now 1,500, and on average 200 individuals with critical skills are quitting each month
Eskom’s by-product is electricity. Its real role is to employ 40,000 mainly unskilled and militant employees.
In 2003 Eskom generated about 39,000MW with 31,000 employees, and over the next decade-and-a-half it hired another 17,000 employees while actual generation fell.
According to Singh & Fehrs’ 2001 analysis of US Energy Information Administration data, the average coal-fired power plant employs 0.18 people in operations and maintenance per megawatt of peak capacity on a permanent basis. Thus, the average 300MW coal-fired power plant would employ about 54 people.
Therefore, with a capacity of 39,000MW Eskom should need about 7,100 people to run the coal operated fleet, and a further 600 for Koeberg — 7,700 people in total.
The American Electric Power utility generates about the same amount of power as Eskom (38,000MW) with a total of 16,000 employees, and that includes 63,000km of transmission lines.
Most of us would imagine that a power utility company would employ mainly technical skills. In 2013 Eskom had 2,500 engineers. There are now 1,500, and on average 200 individuals with critical skills are quitting each month.
Who is responsible for this? The buck stops with Elsie Pule, the Eskom HR executive (a qualified social worker) who over the past 10 years has hired 13,000 people the utility did not need, chased away half of its engineers, and in 2015 removed 3,400 white employees as they did not meet demographic targets.
Pule needs to resign, Eskom has failed on her watch, and as we all know in every company it’s about the people.
Rob Tiffin
Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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