Glossary, abbreviations and acronyms

Glossary

     
Base-load plant   Base-load power stations, largely coal-fired and nuclear, are designed to operate continuously
Clawback   The actual over-recovery against that allowed by NERSA in the multi-year price determination or even under-recovery whereby Eskom will claw back
Combined cycle   A technology for producing electricity from otherwise lost waste heat as it exits from one or more gas (combustion) turbines
Daily peak   The maximum amount of energy demanded in one day by electricity consumers
Decommissioning   Removing a facility (eg a reactor) from service, and subsequent actions of safe
storage, dismantling and making the site available for unrestricted use
Demand-side management (DSM)   Planning, implementing and monitoring activities to encourage consumers to use
electricity more efficiently, including both the timing and level of electricity demand
Embedded derivative   A financial instrument that causes some or all cash flows that would otherwise be
required by a contract to be modified according to a specified variable such as a
currency
Energy availability factor (EAF)   A measure of power station availability taking account of energy losses not under
the control of plant management and internal non-engineering constraints
Energy efficiency   Programmes to reduce energy used by specific end-use devices and systems,
typically without affecting the services provided
Eskom sustainability performance index (ESPI)   Index covering technical, economic, environmental and social measures to score
sustainable performance
Flashover   Electrical insulation breakdown
Forced outage   Shutdown of a generating unit, transmission line or other facility for emergency
reasons or a condition in which generating equipment is unavailable for load due to unanticipated breakdown
Free basic electricity (FBE)   Amount of electricity deemed sufficient to provide basic electricity services to a
poor household
Human resources sustainability index (HRSI)   A measure of Eskom’s ability to achieve its human resources objectives
Independent non-executive director   A non-executive director who is not a full-time salaried employee of the company
or its subsidiary:
  • Is not the representative of a shareholder
  • Has not been employed by the company and is not a member of the immediate family of an individual who is, or has been in any of the past three financial years, employed by the company in any executive capacity
  • Is not a professional advisor to the company
  • Is not a significant supplier to, or customer of, the company
International financial reporting standards (IFRS)   Global accounting standards that require transparent and comparable information in general purpose financial statements issued by the International Accounting Standards Board
Independent power producer (IPP)   Any entity, other than Eskom, that owns or operates, in whole or in part, one or
more independent power production facilities
Interruptible load   Load that can be interrupted in the event of capacity or energy deficiencies on the
supply system
Interruptible power   Power whose delivery can be curtailed by the supplier, usually in agreement
between Eskom and the customer
Kilowatt-hour (kWh)   Basic unit of electric energy equal to one kilowatt of power supplied to or
taken from an electric circuit steadily for one hour; one kilowatt-hour equals
1 000 watt‑hours
Load   Amount of electric power delivered or required at any specific point on a system
Load management   Activities to influence the level and shape of demand for electrical energy so
demand conforms to the present supply situation, long-term objectives and
constraints
Load profile   Information on a customer’s electricity use over time, sometimes shown as a graph
Load shifting   The transfer of loads from peak to off-peak periods; eg in situations where a utility
does not expect to meet demand during peak periods but has excess capacity in
off-peak periods
Load shedding   Scheduled and controlled power cuts by rotating available capacity between all
customers when demand is greater than supply to avoid total blackouts in the
supply area
Lost-time incident rate   A proportional representation of the occurrence of lost-time injuries over
12 months
Maximum demand   Highest demand of load within a specified period
Megawatt   One million watts
Megawatt-hour (MWh)   One thousand kilowatt-hours or one million watt-hours
Mid-merit power generation   Installations that generate electricity when electricity demand is higher than average
Mothballed   Plant (ie power stations) placed in long-term storage
Non-technical losses   The difference between total losses and technical losses is referred to as non-technical losses.
Outage   The period in which a generating unit, transmission line, or other facility is out of
service
Off-peak   Period of relatively low system demand
Peak demand   Maximum power used in a given period, traditionally between 07:00 – 10:00 and
18:00 – 21:00
Peaking capacity   Generating equipment normally operated only during hours of highest daily, weekly or seasonal loads
Peak-load plant   Usually gas turbines or a pumped-storage scheme used during peak-load periods
Power pool   An association of two or more interconnected electricity supply systems that agree to co-ordinate operations and seek improved reliability and efficiencies
Primary energy   Energy embodied in natural resources (eg coal, liquid fuels, sunlight, wind, uranium)
Pumped-storage scheme   A pumped-storage scheme consists of a lower and an upper reservoir with a power station/pumping plant between the two. During off-peak periods the reversible pump/turbines use electricity to pump water from the lower to the upper reservoir. During peak demand, water is allowed to run back into the lower reservoir through the turbines thereby generating electricity
Reserve margin   Difference between net system capability and the system’s maximum load
requirements (peak load or peak demand)
Spent fuel   Nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in, and permanently removed from, a nuclear reactor. At Koeberg power station approximately 52 fuel assemblies (one third of the fuel assemblies) are removed from each of the two reactors on average every 16 months, and stored on site in the spent fuel pools in the respective fuel buildings next to the respective reactors
Supply-side management (SSM)   Planning, implementing and monitoring supply-side activities to create opportunities for cost-effective purchase, management, generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and all other associated activities
System minutes   The international benchmark for measuring the severity of interruptions to customers. One system minute is equivalent to the loss of the entire system for one minute at annual peak
Technical losses   Technical losses are the naturally occurring losses that depend on the power
systems used
Unplanned automatic grid separations (UAGS)   A measure of the reliability of the service provided to the electrical grid that logs
the number of supply interruptions per operating period
Unit capability factor (UCF)   A measure of power station availability indicating how well plant is operated and
maintained
Unplanned capability loss factor (UCLF)   All occasions when a power station unit has to be shut down and taken out of
service. Energy losses due to outages are considered unplanned if they are not
scheduled at least four weeks in advance


Energy terms

Units of power Units of energy
Power is generated per unit of time Energy is power multiplied by time
Power is expressed in watts (W)  
1kW (kilowatt) = 1 000W 1kWh (kilowatt hour) = 1kW expended over one hour
1MW (megawatt) = 1 000kW 1MWh (megawatt hour) = 1 000kWh
1GW (gigawatt) = 1 000 000kW or 1 000MW 1GWh (gigawatt hour) = 1 000 000kWh or 1 000MWh
Voltage  
1kV (kilovolt) = 1 000V  
Presentation currency  
R1 million = R1 000 000  
R1 billion = R1 000 000 000  
   

Definitions of ratios


Arrear debts as a percentage of revenue: total arrear debts/total revenue multiplied by 100.

Debt:equity including long-term provisions: net financial assets and liabilities plus non-current retirement benefit obligations and noncurrent provisions divided by total equity.

Debt service cover ratio: cash generated from operations/(net interest paid plus debt repaid excluding repayments on commercial paper).

EBIT: earnings before interest and tax (before profit/loss on embedded derivatives).

EBITDA: Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

Electricity revenue per kWh: Electricity revenue including environmental levy/kWh sales total.

Electricity operating costs per kWh: (electricity-related costs: Primary energy costs, net transfer pricing, employee benefit cost, depreciation and amortisation plus impairment loss and other operating expenses)/external sales in kWh.

Funds from operations (FFO): cash generated from operations adjusted for working capital (excluding provisions) and net interest paid/received, dividends received and non-current assets held for risk management.

Funds from operations (FFO) as a percentage of gross debt: funds from operations/gross debt multiplied by 100.

Gross debt/EBITDA: gross debt/earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

Interest cover: operating profit before net finance cost/(net finance cost but before unwinding of discount on provisions, change in discount rate and borrowing cost capitalised).

Return on average equity: profit/loss for the year after tax/average total equity

Return on average total assets: profit/loss for the year after tax/ average total assets.

Value created per employee: value created divided by number of employees.

Working capital ratio: (total current assets, less financial instruments with group companies, less investments in securities, less embedded derivative assets, less derivatives held for risk management, less financial trading assets, less cash and cash equivalents)/(total current liabilities, less financial instruments with group companies, less debt securities issued, less borrowings, less embedded derivative liabilities, less derivatives held for risk management, less financial trading liabilities).

Abbreviations and acronyms

BEE Black economic empowerment, legislated in South Africa
B-BBEE under the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (5 of 2000) and Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act (53 of 2003)
Besa Bond Exchange of South Africa
BWO Black women-owned businesses
CDM Clean development mechanism
CFL Compact fluorescent lamps
CO2 Carbon dioxide
CPI Consumer price index
CSDP Competitive Supplier Development Programme
CSI Corporate social investment
CSP Concentrating solar plant
CV Calorific value
DEA Department of Environmental Affairs
DoE Department of Energy (RSA)
DMP Demand market participation
DPLG Department of Provincial and Local Government
DPE Department of Public Enterprises (RSA)
DSLI Distribution supply loss index
DWA Department of Water Affairs
EAF Energy Availability Factor – the ratio of the available energy generation over a given time period to the reference energy generation over the same time period
EAL Eskom Academy of Learning
EAP Economically active population
EBITDA Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation
ECS Energy conservation scheme
EDI Electricity distribution industry, currently being restructured in RSA
EFC Eskom Finance Company
EIA Environmental impact assessment
EMPs Environmental management plans
EMS Environmental management system
EWT Endangered Wildlife Trust
Exco Eskom executive management committee
FBE Free basic electricity of 50kWh/month to assist low-income households (RSA)
FGD Flue gas desulphurisation
FPM Fine particulate matter
GDP Gross domestic product
GHG Greenhouse gas
GPS Global positioning system
GWh Gigawatt hour (1 000MWh)
HRSI Human resources sustainability index
HVAC Heating, ventilation and air conditioning optimisation
HVDC High-voltage direct current
IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards
Inep Integrated national electrification programme
INPO Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (USA)
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IPP Independent power producer
IRM Integrated risk management
KPI Key performance indicator
kt kilotons (1 000 tons)
kWh kilowatt-hour
kWh SO kilowatt-hour sent out
LME London Metals Exchange
LTIR Lost-time incidence rate
m3 Cubic metres
MFMA Municipal Finance Management Act
MMI Monthly moving index
MW Megawatt
MWh Megawatt-hour (1 000kWh)
ML Megalitre (1 000 000 litres)
mSv Millisievert
Mt Mega tons
MVA Mega volt ampere
MYPD Multi-year price determination
NEEA National Energy Efficiency Agency
Necsa Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (RSA)
NERSA National Energy Regulator of South Africa (RSA)
NEMA National Environmental Management Act
NGO Non-governmental organisation
NGP New growth path
NNR National Nuclear Regulator (RSA)
NO2 Nitrogen dioxide
NOx Nitrogen oxide
N2O Nitrous oxide
OCGT Open-cycle gas turbine
OCLF Other capability loss factor – unplanned losses not under management control, ie weather
OEM Original equipment manufacturer
OHSA Occupational Health and Safety Act
OMS Outage management system
PCB Polychlorinated biphenyls
PBMR Pebble bed modular reactor
PCP Power conservation programme
PCLF Planned capability loss factor – ratio of the energy not produced over a given time period, due to planned shutdowns, to the maximum amount of energy which could be produced over the same time period
PFMA Public Finance Management Act (RSA)
RED Regional electricity distributor
RSLI Reticulation supply loss index
SADC Southern African Development Community
SAIDI System average interruption duration index
SAIFI System average interruption frequency index
Sapp Southern African Power Pool
SHEQ Safety, health, environment and quality
SMME Small, medium and micro enterprises
SME Small and medium enterprises
SOE State-owned enterprise
SO2 Sulphur dioxide
SO3 Sulphur trioxide
Sm3 Standard cubic metre
TOU Time-of-use (tariff)
UCF Unit capability factor
UCG Underground coal gasification
UCLF Unplanned capability loss factor – ratio of the unplanned energy losses over a given time period to the maximum amount of energy which could be produced over the same time period
ULM Utility load manager
UN United Nations
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
VAT Value added tax (RSA)
VCT Voluntary counselling and testing (HIV/Aids RSA)
Wano World Association of Nuclear Operators
WBCSD World Business Council for Sustainable Development
ZLED Zero liquid effluent discharge