South African power utility Eskom has reduced its tariff hike request to 9.5 percent from 12.7 percent, acting chief executive Brian Molefe said on Tuesday.

Molefe was speaking at a public hearing held by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to discuss the latest tariff increase request by the power utility.

In April the power utility raised tariffs by just over 12% and it applied for an additional 12.7% tariff hike for July.

Speaking at a media briefing last week, Molefe said higher tariffs would mean less load shedding.

Earlier this month Eskom announced that it aimed to borrow a further R55 billion rand and turn its government debt into equity as it looks to boost generating capacity amid chronic power cuts.

The conversion of the state’s subordinated loan to equity is part of a government financial package for Eskom, and includes a 23 billion rand injection that will help the utility plug an estimated funding gap to 2018 of 200 billion rand.

–Reuters