By Paul Vecchiatto

Government is trying to find a way to alleviate the pressure on Eskom's balance sheet and to lessen its involvement in the financing of future projects by the power utility, says Eskom chairman Zola Tsotsi.

Speaking before Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, Tsotsi said: "Simply stated we should start to look at partnerships, public private partnerships which could alleviate Eskom's balance sheet, alleviate the pressure on government to become involved in Eskom's financing."

He went on to say that government was also encouraging thinking that Eskom should look at other sources of revenues such as when it had its own "Eskom Enterprises" that it stopped about 10 years ago.

Tsotsi stressed that the thinking was not around moves to privatize the state-owned entity.

He also emphasized that just depending on tariff increases and Eskom's balance sheet was not the only options for further financing needs and that that was where the private public partnerships would come in and in the development of the power utility's other business interests.

Tsotsi's comments were in support of answers by Eskom CEO Brian Dames to Democratic Alliance MP Mannie van Wyk and ANC MP Carolina September.

Dames said Eskom had not developed any plans beyond the seven years that it would take to complete the Kusile power station.

He said that Eskom had enough funding for that period with 70% having been raised already.

Last year Eskom floated a US dollar denominated bond of USD1.7 billion in the international markets and had raised a further R65 billion in the domestic market. The latter would be expanded to a total of R100 billion.

Dames said the funding that Eskom had received so far was sufficient and that further financing and how it was raised depended on government and whether what it received was sufficient (for the current seven year plan) and how it placed South Africa with respect to its debt to GDP ratio.

"It is also a matter of protecting the sovereign rating," he said.

Dames said the work on future financing had not been completed yet and described it as work in progress.

In reply to a question by DA MP Lance Greyling, Dames said that Eskom had seen the impact of increased electricity prices on communities and small companies and had asked government and the national energy regulator to look into where pricing was going.

We have seen studies being done recently showing that SA industrial tariffs are competitive. We are not the world's lowest cost, but the second lowers, Canada being the lowest. We are very conscious of that and very conscious of how we balance that with the energy requirements going forward," he said.

Source: I-Net Bridge