GOOD Statement by Brett Herron ,
GOOD Secretary General
30 January 2025
The GOOD Party joins the collective with a sigh of relief that Eskom’s proposed 36.15% tariff hike was not granted by energy regulator Nersa. However, the increase of 12.74% for the financial year 2025/26, 5.36% for 2026/27, and 6.19% for 2027/28 will be a major blow to indebted consumers.
A 12.74% increase is well above inflation.
It is GOOD’s view that end users are the ones who are paying for Eskom’s years of mismanagement.
South Africans already pay among the highest electricity prices in the world relative to income. It is unfair to continue asking consumers to pay more without addressing the entire system’s inefficiencies.
Section 16(2) of the Electricity Regulation Act states that a licensee may not charge a consumer any other tariff than those approved by the Regulator.
The Municipal Fiscal Powers Act, however, allows municipalities to implement surcharges, as long as they comply with norms and standards issued by the Minister of Finance, but no norms and standards have been issued.
We have already seen the result of this incoherence in the City of Cape Town, which for the past two years has implemented tariffs higher than permitted by the regulator – and is spending millions of Rands of ratepayers money litigating against NERSA for the right to charge what it wants.
These legal contradictions in the electricity supply system need to be urgently addressed.
The impacts of these tariffs are deepening inequality rather than alleviating it.
South Africans are entitled to affordable, reliable electricity – not as a luxury, but as a basic right.
Media enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary General
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Samantha Jackson, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 083 5509875
Email: samantha@forgood.org.za