South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom has been ordered by the Western Cape High Court to pay nearly ZAR1bn ($55mn) to French company Framatome over delays in replacing steam generators at the Koeberg nuclear power plant (NPP).

The dispute relates to Eskom’s decision to halt the replacement of steam generators at Africa’s only operating NPP. In 2018, Framatome signed a contract to supply and install new generators for both reactor units at the plant. Eskom planned to replace all six generators - three per unit - to extend Koeberg’s operational life for another period of 20 years.

Work on Unit 2 was scheduled to begin in January 2022 during a planned outage. However, in March 2022, Eskom unexpectedly instructed Framatome to stop the replacement work, leading to the contractual dispute. The French company claimed this stoppage was a contractual “compensation event.”

An adjudicator, advocate Peter Ramsden, agreed in December 2022 and ruled in March 2023 that Eskom owed €35.2mn ($38.4mn or ZAR728mn) to Framatome, plus ZAR256.6mn in interest charges, totalling ZAR984.6mn, as reported by News24 on July 22. With accumulated interest and Framatome’s legal costs, total payments may exceed ZAR1bn.

Eskom challenged the ruling, arguing the adjudicator overstepped his authority, delayed judgment, and failed to give detailed reasons for his decision. However, last week the court upheld Ramsden’s decision. “There is no basis to set aside the decisions of the adjudicator which are valid and binding,” acting judge RT Williams said as quoted by the media outlet.

Williams dismissed every one of Eskom’s objections, stating that “Eskom’s challenge to the reasons provided by the adjudicator is clearly a distortion of the quantum decision and a stratagem to avoid having to comply with the adjudicator’s decision.”

In a press statement on July 22, Eskom clarified that there were two contractual disputes, which were being addressed through the agreed resolution process. According to the utility, the contract stipulates that disputes are first referred to adjudication and, if not resolved, to arbitration.

“As Eskom was not satisfied with the adjudicator’s decisions, the two matters were escalated to arbitration as per the agreed process. The arbitration was held from June to July 2025, and a decision is expected in the last quarter of Eskom’s financial year,” the utility said.

Eskom also noted that recent media reports appeared to have mixed separate legal processes, and clarified that no new payments were due, and all actions taken by Eskom were in line with the applicable legal and contractual procedures.

While the utility disagreed with the adjudicator’s decisions, it nevertheless followed contract procedures by making the required payments by March 2024. Furthermore, the utility applied to the Western Cape High Court in March 2023 to have the adjudicator’s rulings overturned on procedural grounds. As the court only delivered its judgment on 17 July 2025, which was over a year late, Eskom was now reviewing the ruling to decide on its next steps.

The utility said it remained committed to transparency and accountability and urged the public and media to trust the integrity of the process Eskom was following to resolve these matters responsibly.

“Most importantly, despite these disputes, the core technical work, replacing the steam generators on Koeberg Unit 2, has been completed. This is a major milestone that contributes to the safe and extended operation of the power station, helping to ensure energy security for the country,” the utility said in the statement.