President Cyril Ramaphosa told delegates at the ANC Free State provincial conference that he asked Eskom to halt the 18.65% tariff hike set to be implemented in April.
Eskom has now said that those who are indignant about the hike will have to file a court application to challenge the energy regulator’s decision.
Also read: Ramaphosa asks Eskom to delay the 18.65% power tariff hike
According to News24, Eskom has indicated that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) is the only body authorised to dictate how much South African consumers can be charged for electricity.
Nersa also uses an allegedly extensive public participation process to get feedback from different stakeholders and think about the costs that Eskom will have to pay before making a final decision.
Nersa lets Eskom recover from “efficient costs” for things like coal contracts, contracts with independent power producers, diesel purchases, maintenance work, employee contracts, and debt payments.
“If Eskom does not recover from the consumer, then the burden on the taxpayer increases. Thus efficient costs will need to be recovered – they do not just disappear,” the power utility told News24.
It also stated that Nersa could not alter its own decision unless it was reviewed by a court of law and that the only avenue available to contest the regulator’s decision was to file an application with a high court to review and set aside the decision.
“Once a decision has been made, Nersa lacks any power to re-examine its decision. Charging any price other than that determined by Nersa is not legally possible,” Eskom said.
UJ Professor Hartmut Winkler told News24 that there would need to be a trade-off so that the government would provide some support to make up for the shortfall the utility faces if Eskom does not implement the tariff increase.
Professor Winkler foresaw that if Eskom complies with the president’s request, it will create a precedent for future price increases to be halted again in the future.
Read more on News24.
Also read:
Everything you need to know about Eskom’s new tariff proposal
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