HOW WE USE ELECTRICITY IN SOUTH AFRICA

 While Eskom published better than expected financial results for the year ended March 2015, it's power delivery remains under strain.

Load shedding is set to continue for the next 18 months, public enterprises minister Lynne Brown recently said, as Eskom, which supplies approximately 95% of the country's power, continues to battle a number of issues most notably generation performance.

On Tuesday (11 August), the group reported that annual profits declined by as much as 50%.

The power utility said that net profit after tax for the year ended March 2015, was R3.6 billion - down from a 2014 total of R7.1 billion.

Revenue for the year however, improved to R147.7 billion, from R138.3 billion in 2014.

Electricity sales declined to 216.3GWh, from 225GWh in March 2012, due to shrinking demand from industrial users and mining companies.

Load shedding led to sales of 548 GWh being foregone, the company said.

In its presentation, Eskom highlighted electricity volumes by customer type, while also revealing its primary energy cost breakdown. 

Moneyweb noted that Eskom forked out R83.4 billion, 19% more than in 2014, for primary energy in the year ended March 31 2015.

Eskom's diesel bill for fueling its open-cycle gas turbines decreased from R10.5 billion in the previous year to R9.5 billion. 