Eskom wants the courts to intervene in its standoff with the National Energy Regulator (Nersa). The power utility has lodged an urgent application to the North Gauteng High Court to further add to the tariff increase approved by the regulator earlier this year.
Eskom says the decision by Nersa puts further pressure on Eskom finances.
Eskom and Nersa at loggerheads over the tariffs the regulator approved in March this year. The power utility says the approved tariffs are not nearly enough and is asking for almost double what Nersa approved.
The tariffs approved by Nersa resulted in average percentage price increases of 9.41% for this year, 8.1% for next year and 5.22% respectively.
Eskom says because of this decision, it has been short-changed about R100 billion it would have liked to recover over the period.
Corporate Specialist in Economic Regulation at Eskom, Deon Joubert, says, “There are court processes underway, and if you add them up, address roughly the R100 billion that we calculated right now of shortfalls accumulating from 2014. Of that R100 billion, nearly half – R48 billion is already being addressed in year 2021 and year 2022. So that already takes care of half of your R100 billion and at what impact to the consumer, 16.7%, 16.7,” Joubert explains.
Eskom proposes that tariffs go up by about 16.7% for the 2020/2021 financial year and the year after that.
In an earlier statement, Nersa said it remains confident that its determination is consistent with the governing legislative and regulatory requirements.
