Johannesburg – Eskom expects the World Bank to make a decision on a loan programme of up to $5-billion (R37,4-billion) in the first half of next year, a senior official said yesterday.

The utility has embarked on a R385-billion power supply expansion programme so it can meet fast-rising demand.

In December last year, a senior official said the World Bank had agreed in principle to lend Eskom up to $5-billion for the expansion programme.

Earlier this month, the bank said on its website Eskom had applied for the first three tranches of the loan, totalling $3,75-billion (R28-billion), to fund projects at its Medupi power station and renewable energy and low-carbon energy efficiency programmes.

“The target is still $5-billion, but at this stage our loan application thus far is $3,75-billion,” the Eskom official said. “The (stage) we are in at the moment is that the World Bank has published the loan application and they invite comments from stakeholders.

“We would expect that the decision would be coming through, we hope, in the first half of next year, but it still is a long time to go.”

Eskom has been rationing electricity since early last year when the national grid nearly collapsed, forcing mines and smelters to shut and costing the country billions of dollars.

Pretoria says it is looking at ways to help Eskom bridge its funding gap without resorting to annual tariff hikes of 45% over the next three years, which it applied for in September. Critics say this would stoke inflation and force key industrial firms to shut parts of their operations. – Reuters