Eskom's bonus joyride has come to an abrupt halt: in an e-mail this week the parastatal announced that not a single bonus would be paid out this year. The e-mail, sent out internally on Wednesday by Eskom's acting head of human resources Matome Makwela, and confirmed by the utility's media desk, sets out a list of reasons for stopping the bonuses.Eskom was criticised last year for paying its three top executives - then CEO Brian Dames, chief financial officer Paul O'Flaherty and financial director Tsholofelo Molefe - a total of R24.4-million and for dishing out R62.8-million in performance bonuses.Assigning bonuses to Eskom executives this year - given load-shedding - would have created far greater controversy.story_article_left1According to the e-mail, Eskom did not meet its targets for saving money, bringing power stations on line and providing a continuous supply of electricity.The e-mail said:• A financial sustainability measure achieving a total saving of R9.8-billion was set, in order for all employees to qualify for a bonus. This aim was not reached;• Unit 6 of Medupi power station was not commercially operative by the target date of May 31 this year;• Eskom's energy availability factor had to be 77% for bonuses to be paid. The figure reached was 73.7%; and• "Unplanned capability loss factor" - unscheduled outages - were too high at 17%, against a figure of 10% on which bonuses were dependent.Makwela wrote that several electricity-supply and maintenance targets had been met. But, he said, these were insufficient and "no bonuses will be paid out for the 2014-2015 financial year"."Although the qualifiers were not achieved, Eskom would like [to take] this opportunity to thank employees for their hard work, dedication and support during the year as we all worked to keep the lights on."..