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Embattled Eskom to get R11 billion from BRICS Bank

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SA's prayers may have been answered as BRICS Bank plans to lend R11 billion to Eskom Holdings which could alleviate some of the pressure on the country’s electricity grid.

With Eskom given a lifeline by the Brics backed New Development Bank, it should go a long way to alleviating the power utility's financial burden.

The Bank plans to lend as much as R11 billion to Eskom for infrastructure projects this year as the ailing power utility battles to keep power supply steady.

Eskom, which on Wednesday entered a seventh day of controlled power cuts, is contending with operational and financial challenges, threatening the productivity of Africa’s most-industrialized economy.

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The government is considering various interventions to turn the company around, including a $4.8 billion bailout over three years and splitting the organization into three parts to help contain costs.

The NDB, back by the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is in talks with the government about loans that could alleviate some of the pressure on the country’s electricity grid, the lender’s president, K.V. Kamath, said by phone.

The development institution is rolling out a $180 million loan to Eskom to build transmission lines and is considering two further projects in 2019, he said. The first is a $480 million loan that will pay for retrofitting flue-gas desulfurization equipment to make the Medupi power plant compliant with new environmental standards. The second is a further $300 million facility to improve the country’s battery-storage capacity, Kamath said.

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“Power is now a critical element in South Africa’s infrastructure and at this point in time it is imperative that we work with the government in alleviating this problem,” Kamath said. Medupi will have about 4,800 megawatts of installed capacity once completed.

The plan to split Eskom into generation, transmission and distribution units is heartening, Kamath said. “We are equally clear that this won’t happen overnight, so there is always a need to extend a hand during the transitioning process and that’s what we are doing.”

The funding planned for Eskom will make up most of the $900 million the NDB will extend in South Africa in 2019. By the end of the year, the lender will have roughly $2.4 billion of loans in the country, Kamath said. Eskom didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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The NDB was started in 2015 to support sustainable infrastructure projects across its emerging-market members. The Shanghai-based bank will have extended $7.5 billion to $8 billion across its members by the end of year, bringing its total to assistance to BRICS nations to about $15 billion.

Earlier this month, South Africa‘s energy regulator, Nersa, granted Eskom average power price increases that were far below what the utility had asked for, saying it aimed to balance the interests of the company and the public.

Eskom was granted a 9.4% tariff hike for this year along with an increase of 8.1% for 2020 followed by 5.2% the following year.