WATCH: How Eskom’s woes will darken your days

“The news that Eskoms’s IT-supplier, Oracle, wants to withdraw their service from the power supplier, is bad for South Africans,” says the energy expert Ted Blom.

Blom reacted to the news that Eskom and Oracle were in court to prevent Oracle’s withdrawal.

In documents submitted to the court, Eskom admitted that such a step would affect Eskom’s ability to keep the lights on, very negatively.

The two companies are at loggerheads about essential IT services supplied by Oracle to Eskom. Oracle wants to cancel service delivery to Eskom due to a dispute over payments.

According to the company, Eskom over-utilised Oracle’s service and owe them millions, more than what was agreed upon in their five-year agreement.

Eskom lodged an urgent application, but it was denied by the high court in Johannesburg.

Now Eskom wants to appeal the decision, but Oracle does not want to wait with its withdrawal. This can cripple the power network, according to Eskom.

The utility denied to have over-utilised the service, claiming they only used what was agreed upon.

Eskom also said it was dependent on Oracle’s system for its most important operational processes.

Energy expert Ted Blom said that Oracle was not the only supplier that wanted to withdraw from Eskom.

He told Izak du Plessis that darker days were definitely awaiting South Africans.