The country's electricity supply would be at risk if Eskom did not receive its 34% tariff hike, its CE Jacob Maroga said on Tuesday.

"So, if we do not get the right amount of increase this year... it means we have more risk in terms of security of supply," he told the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Convention Centre in Pretoria.

Maroga was making closing comments during Nersa's two-day public hearings into Eskom's application for a 34% interim price increase.

He said the country's power supply was already at risk because the parastatal was still uncertain about a long-term funding plan. The implication of this was scaling down current operations.

"We still have the process to go through for the totality of what we require for the funding model so... we have not solved the issue.

There is still uncertainty about the long term," he said.

He believed there would be more certainty by the end of September when Eskom hoped to have a funding model in place.

The absence of a long-term plan prompted Eskom's application for the interim price hike.

It has been widely criticised for missing the legislated deadline for a price hike application and for failing to provide sufficient information to substantiate the need for the tariff hike.

"In my view, as much as you need to respect deadlines, with the substantial amount of money we are talking about and the implications for the country, we needed dialogue," he said.

One of the critics was Mthobeli Kolisa, executive director of infrastructure services of the South African Local Government Association (Salga), who described the parastatal's approach to an application for a tariff increase as "chaotic and incoherent".

"While we recognise that Eskom has struggled to reach finality with national government [on a funding model], we still do not understand why Eskom was not able to submit its interim application to Nersa.

"Rather, they delayed the application to the point where legislated time frames were ignored and there was no room for consultation," he said.

He cautioned that municipalities would not manage further price hikes this year.

The parastatal has indicated that its application is an interim one and it may apply for another increase once its funding model is
finalised.

Maroga said Eskom needed to "engage the shareholder", the State, to assess its ability to obtain funds through borrowing and whether it would be able to repay this funding.

He said the deadline had coincided with the emergence of the global economic crisis and it had not been known then whether it would be able to borrow money.

The Antiprivatisation Forum suggested that Eskom should turn to the government for a bail-out instead of increasing tariffs, which would have a dismal effect on the poor.

The Transvaal Agricultural Union urged the power company to clamp down on the illegal use of electricity to finance its shortfall of R27-billion.

Maroga acknowledged that a 34% tariff hike was not a "trivial matter", and said Eskom understood its implications on the economy and the poor.

Nersa intends making a decision on the price hike by June 25.

"The decision we are going to make on June 25 has to ensure that it considers all of your inputs, obviously within the constraints of the legislation and policies that guide us," said panel chairperson Smunda Mokoena.

"I assure you that we will do that to the best of our ability."

The regulators face an arduous task, as they have to weigh the written and oral submissions made and Eskom's application before making a decision.

The number of oral submissions made in opposition to the tariff hike outweighed those that approved it.

Calls for the tariff hike to be rejected were made by, among others, labour heavyweight, the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

Homes and businesses across the country were plunged into darkness for hours on end during loadshedding brought on by an electricity crisis last year.

On Monday, Maroga told Nersa that its capital requirements had increased tenfold in the last five years, rising from R11-billion to R104-billion in 2010.