Eskom said its results for the first half of the year showed improvement in financial and operational performance, although financial and operational challenges remain.
CEO, Andre' de Ruyter released the power utility's interim results on Monday for the six months ended September 2020.
He said despite revenue being flat revenue, improved cost control had resulted in an improvement in the power utility's earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation was R28.1bn.
De Ruyter said COVID-19 had a substantial negative impact on performance, with sales volumes down 10.3% year-on-year, negating the positive impact of a tariff increase of 8.76%.
"Net profit after tax of R83 million was achieved while navigating a very challenging operating environment," he said.
However, the CEO noted that the net finance cost of R15.3 billion due to the unsustainable debt burden of
R463.7 billion eroded operating profit, with government support of R6 billion received in the period and R56 billion committed for the 2021 financial year.
De Ruyter said Eskom's operational performance was also steadily improving, with plant availability, as well as levels of planned and unplanned maintenance showing progress due to the Generation recovery plan.
He said during the six-month period under review, Eskom implemented loadshedding for 19 days during this period.
Highlights according to Eskom statement:
*Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased to R28.1 billion (September 2019: R26.4 billion).
*Eskom recorded a net profit, after tax, of R83 million while navigating a very challenging operating environment.
*Revenue grew to R108.7 billion compared to R107.5 billion in the same period last year, marking an increase of 1.1%.
*Sales volumes fell 10.3% in the period as a result of the COVID-19 national lockdown that took effect in March 2020.
