Eskom Prepaid Guptas’ Tegeta $38 Million for Coal Supplies
- Paying companies in advance has been done before, Eskom says
- Eskom isn’t diverting coal from Hendrina plant to Arnot
South Africa’s electricity utility paid 578 million rand ($38.2 million) in advance for coal supplied by a Gupta family-controlled company to guarantee supplies for a power plant, the producer and an Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. executive said.
Tegeta Exploration & Resources Ltd., controlled by the Gupta family that’s associated with President Jacob Zuma, is supplying the utility’s Arnot coal-fired facility in the eastern Mpumalanga-province at an average price of 500 rand ($33) a metric ton for the fuel, Eskom said in a statement. That compared with 1,132 rand a ton Eskom was paying Exxaro Resources Ltd. in a 40-year agreement that wasn’t renewed when it ended last year, the power producer said. Tegeta is sourcing coal from the Optimum mine it bought from Glencore Plc after the Baar-based producer placed the operation under business rescue proceedings.