Eskom Interrupts BHP Aluminum Smelter Power as Demand Rises

Eskom Holdings Ltd., which supplies about 95 percent of South Africa’s electricity, said it interrupted power supplies to BHP Billiton Ltd.’s smelters this month to help manage “tight supplies” amid colder weather.

Eskom also invoked power-reduction agreements with large customers it can’t name “more frequently, almost daily,” Hilary Joffe, a spokeswoman for Johannesburg-based Eskom said by phone today. Customers, excluding BHP, whose tariff agreement with Eskom incorporates an interruption clause, receive financial compensation in return for reducing electricity use.