Eskom Courts Crypto Miners with Discounted Tariff

Eskom, South Africa's largest power utility, is turning to cryptocurrency miners to offset losses in sales due to plummeting industrial demand. The utility plans to offer a discounted tariff of R1.20 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for participating customers, with the aim of selling excess electricity generated by renewable energy projects. Eskom anticipates 2028 to be a watershed year for its operations, with the utility expecting to have five terawatt-hours (TWh) of surplus energy, enough to power about 450,000 average South African households for an entire year.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) is considering Eskom's proposal for a two-year pilot tariff, which would apply to new, high-load, and flexible customers, including cryptocurrency-mining operations. Two cryptocurrency companies have already expressed interest in participating, with combined initial demand of approximately 10MW and potential expansion of up to 500MW. The applicants have also indicated potential ancillary community-development initiatives.

Eskom's move is a response to the significant pressure on households and industry due to South Africa's sky-high electricity prices, which have surged more than 800% since 2007. The utility has been entering into negotiated price agreements (NPAs) to provide relief to high-energy users, but Nersa has admitted that these agreements have not been the economic panacea they were intended to be.