Treasury: Clarity about Eskom in February

Clarity about the way forward for troubled power utility Eskom will emerge next month during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address (Sona) and in Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s budget speech.

So said Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane.

“We are looking at a whole lot of options,” he said in an interview with City Press on Friday.

Eskom wants to raise as much as R884 billion in the next three years through a huge hike in power prices and potentially including the biggest government bailout of a state-owned company in history of up to R100 billion.

Ramaphosa will deliver his Sona to Parliament on February 7.

Mboweni will present his first budget speech two weeks later on February 20.

Ramaphosa said this week at a media conference at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, that Eskom was a “challenge” that was being addressed.

Earlier this month Eskom indicated that cash from power generation was insufficient to cover debt servicing and capital expenditure.

Mogajane said earlier this month that the government did not have R100 billion to bail out Eskom.

He said bailing out the power utility would involve borrowing more money and reprioritising expenditure.