Eskom grew its net profit to R12,8bn in the six months to the end of September, chief financial officer Paul O’Flaherty said on Wednesday.

The power utility grew revenue to R63,9bn, which was mainly driven by the 25,8% tariff increase, granted by the National Energy Regulator of SA, in effect from April this year.

O’Flaherty said Eskom was a seasonal business which generally made most of its profit in the first six months of its financial year because of the winter increase in demand for electricity.

All the financial surpluses Eskom made would be reinvested in its massive capital expansion plan and used to service its debt.

CEO Brian Dames said Eskom had embarked on obtaining funding of R300bn to pay for the capital expansion, and had so far secured 74% of the funding required.

Democratic Alliance MP Pieter van Dalen said Eskom’s profit was possible only on the back of massive increases in electricity prices. “We must not lose sight of the fact that this profit represents the result of a de facto increase in the cost burden on the South African people,” he said in a statement.

Future price increases should be carefully calculated.

“If Eskom is able to post profits of this size, then further increases in electricity will not be necessary any time soon,” he said. “The DA will ensure that the next round of price negotiations will take the robust nature of Eskom’s current profits into account.” — Sapa