南非国家电力公司（Eskom）宣布，它已与萨曼科铬业（Samancor Chrome）、嘉能可（Glencore）以及政府官员敲定了一份谅解备忘录，将组建一个联合多任务小组，该小组将“优先制定一项干预措施，在支持产业竞争力的同时，确保电价解决方案不会给其他客户带来额外负担”。各方同意在三个月内提出一个建议方案。

南非国家能源监管局（NERSA）目前正在处理一份针对冶炼厂临时电价调整的申请。与此同时，政府正在制定一项配套机制，以支持该行业实现更具竞争力的定价路径，预计该机制将在未来三个月内敲定。这将是南非国家电力公司/南非国家能源监管局为冶炼厂提供的第二个“特殊”低价电力方案。

一旦临时电价获得批准，冶炼厂承诺暂停依据《劳资关系法》第189条进行的裁员程序，并在根据谅解备忘录制定长期解决方案的同时，让约40%的熔炉产能恢复运行。（这意味着60%的产能将闲置，就嘉能可旗下的莱昂厂而言也是如此。）

哎呀，这个问题可不是这几年才出现的，关于它已经进行过多次讨论了。问题在于，目前仍有大量的铬铁产量——尤其是在中国，而中国也是最大的铬铁消费国；其他国家，如津巴布韦，也在发展本国的铬产业；随着不锈钢产量的下降，西方对铬铁的需求也在减少；南非国家电力公司需要资本支出以维持运营；而且该公司不能只支持一家主要用户而忽视其他用户。再多的讨论也改变不了这些现实。

关键问题在于，南非国家电力公司和政府将付出多大代价来维持冶炼厂工人的就业？以及这个解决方案究竟是真正的长期方案，还是仅仅是权宜之计？

（Eskom’s new solution to saving South Africa’s ferrochrome smelters–a task force to study the problem

 

Eskom announced that it finalized a memorandum of understanding with Samancor Chrome and Glencore and government officials to establish a joint multi-task team that will “prioritise developing an intervention that supports industrial competitiveness while ensuring that electricity-pricing solutions do not impose additional burdens on other customers.” The parties agreed to present a proposed solution within three months.

 

NERSA is currently processing an application for an interim tariff adjustment for the smelters. At the same time, government is working on a complementary mechanism to support a more competitive pricing path for the sector, which is expected to be finalized over the next three months. This would be Eskom/Nersa's second "special" low-priced power price to smelters.

 

Once the interim tariff is approved, the smelters have committed to suspend the Sec. 189 retrenchment process and bring about 40% of their furnace capacity back online while the long-term solution is developed under the MoU. (The means that 60% of the capacity will be idled, which in the case of Glencore, running Lion.)

 

Gee is not like that problem hasn’t been around for years and there have been lots of talks on it. The problem is there is still much ferrochrome production–especially in China, which is also the largest ferrochrome users; other countries, like Zimbabwe, are developing their own chrome industries; Western demand for ferrochrome is going down with the production of stainless steel; Eskom needs capex to continue operating; and Eskom can’t support one major user and ignore the rest of the users. And no amount of talking is going to change that. 

 

The bottom line is how much will Eskom and the government will pay to keep the smelter workers employed? And whether the solution will really be long-term or just a stop gap measure?）