S.Africa’s power crisis cost economy $6.4 billion: report

South Africa’s energy regulator said Africa’s biggest economy lost 50 billion rand due to the power crisis which led to reduced supplies to mines, manufacturers and other sectors.

Smunda Mokoena, the chief executive of NERSA, was quoted by South Africa’s SAPA news agency as saying that the crisis was partly caused by dwindling coal stocks, and that it had caught the country by surprise.
NERSA calculated the loss to the economy based on a cost of 75 rand per kilowatt hour.

Coal is the main raw material used by state-owned power utility Eskom to fire the majority of its power stations, producing about 90 percent of its electricity supply.

Reuters