Eskom increase bad for job creation

A proposed 35 percent Eskom tariff hike will have a negative impact on the creation of jobs, Cosatu North West said.

"The increase will have a devastating impact on the economy and affect any efforts to create decent work," said provincial secretary Solly Phetoe.

He said the increase was likely to hurt the poor.

"Residential consumers of electricity, while using less electricity, they pay more than industrial users."

Cosatu has proposed 20 percent increases in each of the next three years instead of the 35 percent a year hikes Eskom wants.

It said that instead of building more coal fire power stations there was an urgent need to upscale investment in the renewable source of energy.

"Empirical evidence shows that while it is cheaper to produce electricity from coal now, it is going to be costly in the medium to long term," said Phetoe.