Eskom says its proposed tariff hike covers expenses that include purchase of renewable energy.
Eskom has defended its application for an almost 20% electricity hike to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for the next financial year.
Public hearings are underway in Mbombela, Mpumalanga. Various sectors are pleading with Nersa not to approve the power utility’s application.
Eskom says its proposed tariff hike covers expenses that include purchase of renewable energy, environmental levies and operational costs.
The utility’s spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe says Eskom strives to reduce costs where it can.
Phasiwe says, “About R35 billion of that amount is actually for purchase of energy from renewable energy projects and then there is also the amount of 8 billion Rand, which is a tax or a levy, called an environmental levy.”
“In other words that money goes directly to the national treasury. We are collecting on behalf of the fiscals, and the other amounts are for our operational requirements, because we still have to operate as a business,” he adds.
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