South Africa’s Eskom cuts electricity tariffs for two struggling ferrochrome firms

South Africa’s power utility Eskom on Friday announced a further 29% reduction in electricity prices for two distressed ferrochrome firms in a bid to avert thousands of jobs losses. Samancor Chrome and Glencore’s joint venture with Merafe Resources will now pay 62 South African cents per kilowatt-hour under the new tariff, down from an interim tariff of 87.74 cents per kilowatt-hour approved by South Africa’s energy regulator in January.

South Africa’s smelting sector has been devastated by high electricity costs, which have surged by more than 900% since 2008 and forced dozens of smelters to shut down. Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said while the initial relief was for the two smelting operations which had started procedures to cut thousands of jobs, the government was also considering broader power tariff relief for the rest of the sector.