Nersa urged to consider consumers' pockets

Public hearings are being held in Midrand today over Eskom’s application for a 16,6% tariff hike.

A small group of people, from the Right to Know Campaign, were picketing outside Gallagher Estate on 4 February 2015.

Gia Nicolaides | 560 days ago

JOHANNESBURG - AfriBusiness has urged the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to consider whether consumers are able to fork out more for electricity.

Public hearings are being held in Midrand today over Eskom's application for a 16,6 percent tariff hike.

The utility has argued that it needs to recover R22,8 billion.

AgriBusiness's Stefan Pieterse says Eskom wants consumers to pay for its inefficiencies.

"The maintenance schedule is under Eskom's own control. It spent its maintenance budget but the benefit thereof seems questionable. Eskom has only itself to blame for the poor maintenance practices that we have to suffer for as a result."

Eskom, however, has argued that it's been prudent and transparent in its application for a tariff hike and insists that buying diesel to keep the lights on was the last resort.

#Eskom shows a slide of what #Loadshedding would have looked like without running the OCGT's that use diesel. GN pic.twitter.com/n3hHSJ3vv1

EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) February 4, 2016

At the same time, a small group of people from the Right to Know Campaign are picketing outside Gallagher Estate. They say this application must be rejected

They are holding placards saying 'Eskom cannot increase tariffs'.

Spokesperson Bongani Xezwi said, "It's going to cause problems for the users and what we are saying to Eskom is that we've seen less transparency and less of our Constitution in terms of their management, for instance, Medupi. What happened at Medupi? What we are saying is that Eskom needs to start investing in solar."

More in Local

Comments

EWN welcomes all comments that are constructive, contribute to discussions in a meaningful manner and take stories forward.

However, we will NOT condone the following:

- Racism (including offensive comments based on ethnicity and nationality)
- Sexism
- Homophobia
- Religious intolerance
- Cyber bullying
- Hate speech
- Derogatory language
- Comments inciting violence.

We ask that your comments remain relevant to the articles they appear on and do not include general banter or conversation as this dilutes the effectiveness of the comments section.

We strive to make the EWN community a safe and welcoming space for all.

EWN reserves the right to: 1) remove any comments that do not follow the above guidelines; and, 2) ban users who repeatedly infringe the rules.

Should you find any comments upsetting or offensive you can also flag them and we will assess it against our guidelines.

EWN is constantly reviewing its comments policy in order to create an environment conducive to constructive conversations.

Nersa urged to consider consumers' pockets

Timeline

Eskom appoints firm to investigate irregularities

SOEs state capture probe: MPs cautioned against 'quasi-judicial inquiry'

Eskom mum on alleged suspension of senior execs

Treasury forensic investigation into Tegeta to answer questions on Eskom deal

Comments

Choose an EWN Twitter account

Choose an EWN app