Consumers have until 21 January to have their say on the matter. Picture: iStock Consumers have limited time to respond to a consultation paper published by energy regulator Nersa on 30 December, which proposes that consumers pay an additional R76 billion in electricity tariffs to compensate Eskom for mistakes the regulator made. The amount is about 40% higher than the R54 billion settlement Nersa reached with Eskom behind closed doors in July, which the High Court in Pretoria refused to confirm after an intervention by AfriForum and Minerals Council SA.
It ordered Nersa on 21 December to reconsider the matter after giving stakeholders an opportunity to make submissions on it. The deadline for submissions is 21 January, according to the timeline Nersa published, and the regulator will make its final decision by 30 January. Whatever number Nersa decides on will be recovered from tariffs according to an implementation plan that is still to be developed.
It is however expected that consumers will see further increases in electricity tariffs on 1 April for customers buying directly from Eskom and 1 July for those buying from municipalities, over and above those announced in January last year. The matter stems from mistakes Nersa made in its initial determination of Eskom’s allowable revenue for the three financial years from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028. The determination translated into average tariff increases of 12.74% in 2025, 5.36% in 2026 and 6.19% in 2027.
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Eskom however challenged the determination in court, pointing out that Nersa made several mistakes in the determination of the allowable revenue for the generation division. This included omitting the closing balance of the previous period as the opening balance for the new tariff period in relation to depreciation, and several issues in relation to the value of the Regulatory Asset Base (RAB).
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