Today is bonus day for Eskom's executives

today is bonus day for eskom's executives

pre-emptive load shedding - punitive cuts to force load reduction - will start on monday even if there is enough electricity.

spokesperson andrew etzinger said none of eskom's key 138 industrial customers would face pre-emptive cuts because they had reduced their demand for power by more than 10 percent.

"that was the deal and they stuck to their bargain so we'll stick to ours."

'that was the deal and they stuck to their bargain so we'll stick to ours'
municipalities were offered the same deal but none will avoid this week's cuts.

"while we have had indications from certain municipalities that they want to pursue some form of exemption or partial exemption, we have as of now not excluded any municipality, but it's early days," said etzinger.

he said the load-shedding schedules would be reassessed weekly so municipalities which showed demand reductions could still qualify to avoid load-shedding.

power cuts nationally will be for two to two-and-a-half hours every second day excluding sundays.

the cuts are to allow eskom to do more planned maintenance.

since january, eskom has lost generating power to both planned and unplanned maintenance, at times losing a fifth of its total power.

everything from too much consumer demand to wet coal and insufficient coal supplies has been blamed.

angry consumers have had erratic power cuts since mid-january and the prospect of the tough new regime of "pre-emptive load-shedding" from monday has sparked widespread outrage.

consumer anger has been fuelled by endless speculation about bonus payments to eskom's top executives, particularly rumours of bonus payouts at the end of eskom's financial year on monday

the national energy regulator of sa (nersa) said that it would decide on june 6 to either approve or shoot down eskom's urgent request for an additional 53 percent increase in addition to the 14 percent it has been granted.

a green light for eskom would not only mean an immediate 67 percent increase in the cost of electricity but that consumers may also be asked to pay retrospectively for the hikes from april 1.

only five months ago, eskom, which had been
awarded a modest 6.2 percent increase, asked that this be raised to 18.7 percent. it was awarded 14.2 percent instead.

nersa's electricity executive thembani bukula said this increase was to be used by eskom to fund r340-billion of capital expenditure. the parastatal's request for a further 53 percent increase was largely to cover increasing coal and fuel costs.

the public, which has expressed anger at the increases and the handling of the electricity crisis by eskom and the government, will be able to air their sentiments during public hearings in the last few days of may.

nersa said it was expecting a wide range of responses from companies, municipalities and south africans in general.

monday is bonus day for eskom's executives.

last week, forensic accountants forensies.com calculated that the executives would get about r10-million in long-term bonuses on monday.

on sunday, all department of public enterprises spokesperson vimla maistry could say was that the bonuses were not for the immediate past year.

"it's for the 2006/07 financial year, not for the 2007/08 financial year. it's based on their performances," said maistry.

she could not give details of which eskom executives were to be paid or how much.

at the end of january, minister of public enterprises alec erwin said eskom executives did not get bonuses last year.

last week he said it was "most unlikely" the executives would be granted bonuses this year.