The ruling follows applications brought by industrial users who argued that the tariffs approved by Nersa were based on flawed processes. Picture: Moneyweb Following a high court hearing that went into the evening on Wednesday (14 January), Judge Anthony Millar ordered energy regulator Nersa to redetermine the electricity tariffs applied in 2024/25 for the City of Joburg, Ekurhuleni on the East Rand, Madibeng Municipality in Brits, and Msunduzi in Pietermaritzburg. This comes after he declared the tariffs unlawful in November – and may lead to those electricity users who were overcharged being credited and those, probably households, who were undercharged having to cough up the difference.
The order may also have a huge impact on the budgets of the four municipalities. For consumers who must retrospectively pay more, it will be a double whammy, as they will pay twice for Nersa’s flawed decisions – once in relation to their municipal tariffs and again as a result of errors in setting Eskom’s tariffs. Nersa is currently running a public participation process after it short-changed Eskom, according to the regulator, to the tune of R76 billion.
The court ordered Nersa in November last year to redo that determination as well. Whatever the shortfall is in its final determination will come from the pockets of electricity users countrywide. Wednesday’s order came after several industrial power users approached the court for relief.
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The applications against Nersa, the four municipalities and Joburg’s City Power were brought by the Casting, Forging and Machining Cluster of South Africa NPC in the cases of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Madibeng. In the Madibeng matter, Autocast – which describes itself as “a leading supplier of aluminium and iron cast and machined components to the automotive, mining and engineering sectors within South Africa” – is also an applicant. In the Msundizi case, the applicant is the Pietermaritzburg and Midlands Chamber of Business NPC.
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