Eskom granted 9.61% tariff rise, less than half sought
South Africa's energy regulator Nersa said on Thursday that it had granted struggling state power utility Eskom an overall average tariff increase for the 2022/23 financial year of 9.61%, versus the 20.50% increase Eskom had applied for.
Nersa rarely allows Eskom the full amount it applies for, with disputes between the two often ending up in the courts.
Eskom argues that Nersa has not allowed it to recoup sufficient revenue via electricity tariffs over many years and says that is one of the reasons why it is dependent on government bailouts.
Eskom might challenge electricity increase to get more
There are concerns that Eskom might challenge the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) decision to grant them a lower electricity tariff than what they requested. The power utility on Thursday was granted an average standard tariff increase of 9.61% instead of the 20.5% Eskom had requested in its 2022/2023 revenue application.
Although the increase is less than what the power utility had requested, it is still 4,1 percentage points higher than inflation.
The tariff goes up on April 1 for Eskom customers, and July 1 for municipal customers. Municipalities will also likely add a surcharge for their customers.
South Africans should prepare for a double-whammy energy price shock over the next few months with electricity tariffs now confirmed to rise 9.61% from April 1 while petrol and diesel prices are predicted to go up dramatically due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Eskom is also trying to tariff the Solar Users specifically by tabling a tariff designed to make it more expensive to use electricity if you are utilising the power of the Sun. Eskom always seems to have a trick up their sleeve to try and get as much as possible from us, while constantly making it as difficult as possible for us to try stay ahead of the curve.
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