UPDATE 1-S.Africa's Eskom signs 250 mln euro finance loan

(Adds details, background)

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 10 (Reuters) - South Africa's state power utility Eskom [ESCJ.UL] said on Wednesday it had signed a 250 million euro export credit financing loan deal with KfW-IPEX Bank to help pay for six boilers at its new Medupi power station.

Eskom, saddled with an aging power generating infrastructure, is struggling to meet electricity demand in South Africa, owing to a lack of investment in new generating capacity.

"Today Eskom ... signed an Export Credit Financing loan agreement with KfW-IPEX Bank for 250 million euros ... which will be used to partially finance the six boilers that the Hitachi Power consortium will supply for the construction of the new Medupi Power Station," the company said in a statement. Hitachi Power is an affiliate of Japan's Hitachi Ltd (6501.T).

"The Export Credit Financing loan is payable over 12 years after the commissioning of the units at Medupi Power Station," it added.

Key platinum and gold mines in South Africa were shut for five days in January, and big aluminum smelters were also affected during the height of the power crunch in Africa's biggest economy.

The utility has since asked big power users and households to cut their consumption to ease pressure on the national grid.

South Africa's National Treasury has budgeted 60 billion rand ($7.48 billion) over the next three years to help Eskom pay for its 343 billion rand, 5-year expansion program.

Last month ratings agency Moody's said it had lowered Eskom's local currency rating to Baa2 from A1 and cut the foreign currency rating to Baa2 from A2, adding that the outlook for all ratings was negative.

It cited a deterioration of Eskom's stand-alone credit profile due to an aggressive capital investment program and the negative financial impact on the company of tariff increases that were not as high as it had requested. ($1=8.017 Rand) (Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)