South Africa said on Wednesday that it would reduce its debt relief package for state-owned power utility Eskom by a further R20-billion and would give some of its support in loans rather than taking on the company’s debt.

“Eskom is now in a much better financial position than in 2023 when the debt relief was originally announced. As a result of these improvements, we have decided to simplify the final phase of the debt relief package,” national treasury said in a revised annual budget.

Instead of taking on R70-billion of debt, national treasury will give Eskom R50-billion in loans.

The government previously reduced its support package by R4-billion after the utility failed to meet a deadline to dispose of its Eskom Finance Company.

Eskom said in December that it expected to turn profitable in 2025, its first profit in eight years.

“In summary, over the five-year period, government will have provided Eskom with loans to the value of R230-billion to assist the utility in repaying its debt. This is about R24-billion less than projected at the outset,” treasury said on Wednesday.

Read: Eskom prices to rise by four times latest CPI figure

South Africa has struggled for years to overhaul Eskom, which is reliant on bailouts and has implemented rolling power cuts for more than decade that have curbed economic growth. — Tannur Anders and Sfundo Parakozov, (c) 2025 Reuters

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