Eskom will spend R385-billion over the next five years on its capital expansion programme, its CEO Jacob Maroga said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at an energy conference in Johannesburg.

Maroga said the state-owned power utility needed to increase its tariffs in order to complete the construction of its new plants.

He added that borrowing was presently a challenge and Eskom's credit rating was under threat.

Eskom is expected to make its application for tariff hikes to the National Energy Regulator soon.

Turning to Eskom's crisis at the beginning of last year, Maroga said this had been a consequence of a late start on new building for generation capacity as well as uncoordinated industry planning.

Inadequate operation risk management and contingency planning had also been a factor, he said.

However, valuable lessons had been learnt from the crisis, Maroga added.

"The impact of power disruptions is immeasurable," he said, adding that security of supply of power was intractably linked to the economic success of the country and the region.

"Power security goes beyond the commercial motive," Maroga noted, recommending an integrated and collaborative approach as the best path to success.

Sapa

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