Eskom admits R343 Million Diesel spending error in Power alert report
image: pexels
by Kelebogile Matlou
Eskom has admitted to overstating its diesel spending in its weekly Power Alert dated 18 July 2025. The utility claimed it spent R5.897 billion on diesel from 1 April to 17 July 2025 to produce 49 GWh of electricity, but SABC News discovered the amount was incorrectly calculated.
After reviewing the numbers, Eskom acknowledged the mistake, explaining that the cost per megawatt hour R5 897 was wrongly entered as the total diesel spend. The actual diesel spend should have been R5.554 billion, meaning Eskom overstated the cost by R343 million.
“The actual diesel spend should have been R5.554 billion, not R5.897 billion. This resulted in an inadvertent overstatement of the diesel spend, which we had intended to correct in this week’s Power Alert,” Eskom said.
image: SABC/page
With the corrected figure, Eskom has been spending an average of R300 million per week on diesel to run its open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs), which are typically used during emergencies to support its coal-fired power stations when electricity demand is high.
Diesel-generated electricity remains one of the most expensive forms of energy for Eskom, costing roughly R6 000 per megawatt hour over 10 times more than coal-based generation.The correction is expected to be published in Eskom’s upcoming Power Alert on 25 July.
