The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) abdicated on its statutory obligation to protect consumers from unfair energy pricing and instead pandered to the interests of Eskom which has failed to generate enough electricity to meet demand.
The DA made this comment on Thursday after Nersa granted Eskom a tariff increase of 18.65% for the 2023/24 year.
“South Africans are already stretched to breaking point due to a high cost of living and this move by Nersa will force many to make the difficult choice of either putting food on the table or paying for non-existent power supply from Eskom.
“This Nersa/Eskom raid on consumer’s empty pockets is unfair, unjust and cruel because it is asking consumers to pay more for electricity that they don’t have,” DA MP Ghaleb Cachalia said.
He said Nersa’s decision to increase electricity tariffs, despite consumers spending over 120 days in darkness in 2022, with indefinite stage 6 load-shedding already in 2023, was officially sanctioned daylight robbery against consumers.
Cachalia said using statistics from its collaborative research effort on residential electricity consumption in South Africa by the department of energy and the University of Cape Town, found that households spend an average of R1,000 on electricity per month.,
He said the latest tariff increase meant consumers would now be spending R320 more to get even less kWh units on their electricity purchase.
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Eskom’s tariff decision is ‘daylight robbery’ against consumers: DA
Image: Antonio Muchave
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) abdicated on its statutory obligation to protect consumers from unfair energy pricing and instead pandered to the interests of Eskom which has failed to generate enough electricity to meet demand.
The DA made this comment on Thursday after Nersa granted Eskom a tariff increase of 18.65% for the 2023/24 year.
“South Africans are already stretched to breaking point due to a high cost of living and this move by Nersa will force many to make the difficult choice of either putting food on the table or paying for non-existent power supply from Eskom.
“This Nersa/Eskom raid on consumer’s empty pockets is unfair, unjust and cruel because it is asking consumers to pay more for electricity that they don’t have,” DA MP Ghaleb Cachalia said.
He said Nersa’s decision to increase electricity tariffs, despite consumers spending over 120 days in darkness in 2022, with indefinite stage 6 load-shedding already in 2023, was officially sanctioned daylight robbery against consumers.
Cachalia said using statistics from its collaborative research effort on residential electricity consumption in South Africa by the department of energy and the University of Cape Town, found that households spend an average of R1,000 on electricity per month.,
He said the latest tariff increase meant consumers would now be spending R320 more to get even less kWh units on their electricity purchase.
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Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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