South Africa's state-owned energy company, Eskom, is expected to publish figures showing an annual loss of 15 billion rand (823 million dollars), the Financial Times reported a few days ago.

According to Reuters, which quotes the Financial Times, the loss is largely due to the fact that Eskom spent 33 billion rand buying diesel that is burned in open-cycle gas turbines to keep the lights on.

The concessionaire, which posted an annual loss of 23.2 billion rand in 2023, will release its financial results for the year to March later this year, the FT said.

CEO Dan Marokane told the newspaper that the end of power blackouts means Eskom could be profitable next year.

"We saw record diesel use last year, so record losses," he said. "But we've actually reduced diesel, so we should see a substantial financial improvement this year. If we maintain our trajectory, there's no reason why we shouldn't see a profit."

Eskom has stopped blackouts in recent months due to better maintenance of its coal fleet and the generation of 5 gigawatts of power from private solar installations. (Source: Reuters)