Government urgently seeks funds for diesel as load shedding intensifies

Government said it’s urgently seeking funds to buy diesel that’s needed to fuel some of its power plants, after the state electricity utility said outages will intensify this week.

Read: Eskom latest: ‘erratic’ power cuts to continue through Wednesday

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan held a meeting with members of Eskom Holdings’s board on Sunday amid “serious concerns” about the risk of increased blackouts in the months ahead, the Department of Public Enterprises, which oversees the utility, said in a statement. The board members informed Gordhan about the situation at the nation’s power plants, it said.

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“The DPE is urgently working with National Treasury and Eskom for it to find the money to buy supplies of diesel,” the department said. The government is also “looking for savings” within Eskom’s existing funds for the money as one potential solution, it said.

An Eskom spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent by text message.

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