Some might find this a bitter pill to swallow but the Herald can confirm that power utility Eskom will be implementing another tariff increase.
This was announced recently and comes after the utility was given the go ahead by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to recover R7.8 billion of its debt from its consumers for cost it hadn’t recovered and for poor sales revenue from 2010 to 2013.
If implemented for only one year, Nersa has said that the increase might translate into a 3.5 percent and five percent increase. The Herald can further state that this will be in addition to the already implemented eight percent increase granted to the power utility for every year until 2018.
According to media reports, the increase will be implemented as of 1 April 2015.
What this means is that consumers can look at paying approximately 11.3 percent and 13 percent in totality. Despite this, Nersa has said that it would consider affordability prior to implementation.
The Utility stated in a report this week “Eskom cannot determine what the impact will be on specific customer categories as the regulator will be decided on how this balance will be liquidated.”
As it stands, the Randfontein Local Municipality is servicing its debt towards the power utility worth R89 million.
