But besides the tariff increases to pay for Eskom’s current construction programme – the building of the Medupi, Kusile and Ingula power stations – the big question is how it is going to fund new generation capacity after that.

The country’s 20-year electricity road map, the Integrated Resource Plan of 2010 (IRP2010), proposes that an additional 9600MW of electricity will be generated by nuclear power, which is roughly a quarter of the total new capacity needed by 2030.

The nuclear procurement programme alone could cost anything between R400-billion and R1-trillion, but another 32 000MW will be needed by 2030. How is South Africa going to pay for projects that will run into trillions of rands?

Eskom’s current programme is testing its ability to raise the money for the rest of the programme. The utility’s debt will peak at R350-billion in the next three years to pay for Medupi, Kusile and Ingula. That will cost R27-billion a year in interest for at least a decade to pay it off.

For more details go to http://www.mg.co.za