Mike Schussler loses his cool over Eskom

[Dave A]

Sparks flew at an electricity conference on proposed tariff hikes on Thursday, with an economist confronting a senior Eskom manager on his claim that its prices were "really" not that expensive.

Economist Mike Schussler took the stand and questioned numbers presented by Eskom chief officer for generation Brian Dames. He then accused the government of "wanting to be in this Marxist, socialist kak" by providing free electricity to the poor.

Schussler's emotional presentation, in which he told Eskom "you don't need a fucking finance model", came after Dames addressed a packed room at a conference, organised by Solidarity trade union in Pretoria, on proposed electricity tariff hikes.

read the full story here

[twinscythe12332]

well, that's a start. The proposed hike hasn't gone through yet, has it?

[Dave A]

No - but well-above-inflation hikes seem unavoidable, especially if ESKOM can't renogotiate those discounted tariffs they've been giving to the big guzzlers.

[Marq]

Loved this comment/quote from the one guy below this article regarding the 'cheap' electricity discussion.

"Someday, electricity will be so cheap, that only the rich will burn candles" - Thomas Edison

I'll also have to change my opinion on economists - seems there is one that is not a sniveling poltroon after all.

[IanF]

Maybe we should see what ESKOM says why it needs the increase, if it is to fund a 40 year plant by paying it off in 4 years then they deserve to be bashed.
My quick thoughts are we should look to invest in coal shares as ESKOM moved away from a cost plus pricing to market based pricing, I remember reading that somewhere.

[Gary H]

Good one Mike

I think Eskom's Mr. Dames tried to the old "triple B" theorm and unfortunately or rather fortunately for us, ran headlong into Mike Schussler one of the best in his field. One should check who is attending your conference before shooting the breeze.

[murdock]

petrol hikes on going down 20 cents then up R2
water price hikes
electricity price hikes
rates price hike already from 300 to 900 per month
tax hikes expected due to expensive cost of goverment officials
now the military are wanting more money to service and up graade equipment

free electricity?
free water?

if there werent so many illegal connection we wouldnt have a power problem...cant disconnect because officals are scared for their lives.

[tec0]

A secret Eskom dossier has revealed that the electricity supplier has been supplying electricity to BHP Billiton at 12c a kilowatt hour - below the cost of electricity production.

The secret pricing deal with the multi-national company to power its massive aluminium smelters accounted for the bulk of Eskom's R9.5 billion loss last year.

Eskom has special secret price deals with BHP Billiton and Anglo American, which use nine percent of all electricity generated in South Africa.

This emerged during a meeting on Tuesday of the parliamentary portfolio committee on public enterprises, where Eskom executives made a presentation to MPs on the utility's controversial special pricing agreements.

Source:

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fA...552&fSetId=662

Well I think the public is paying for more than just heavy loans and bad business decisions we are paying because big companies don’t want too...

[twinscythe12332]

Well I think the public is paying for more than just heavy loans and bad business decisions we are paying because big companies don’t want too...

Probably some serious back scratching going on. It would be inefficient to take the ore elsewhere to be smelted.

[tec0]

If you look at the massif income of the above companies mentioned I can only wonder how much money was given underneath the table

[wynn]

Ditch the smelters, pay the workers to clean the sides of the highways until they get a better job, will be cheaper than the way ESKOM require us to subsidise Biliton and Anglo American.

[tec0]

Well the metal and steel industry is known to be doggy when it comes to human safety and then there ethics are questionable at best. Within the last two years people have died at “known” plants and there was never a real media display or even basic justice done.

This in all fact is the power of money, and the will of only a few individuals. These individuals are basically bent on eating away at our recourses our natural recourses and the citizens of this county. They make deals behind heavy doors and we the people must suffer.

Our freedoms are being stripped away by new laws and the laws that are suppose to protect individuals at the point where they will be none existent. Still it is not the workers of these companies, because they too suffer. Their rights are being denied and there basic earnings is not even that spectacular. In all it is just a job.

The truth is, it is the rich wanting everything for them. They sit around tables working out how to screw the public out of billions and keep their big fat mouths shut! This angers me greatly and in years to come a great many more will be angered by this. A wise man once said there is no black or white only the colour of money...

[Dave A]

It would be inefficient to take the ore elsewhere to be smelted.

You might want to consider aluminium - Mined in Australia. Smelted in South Africa. Ingots mostly shipped back East to Australasia for manufacturing.

The only "efficiency" there is $$$