[imagesource: Flickr]

Eskom is really klapping us where the sun doesn’t shine.

Besides sitting in the dark for close to eight hours a day now, with stage 7 load shedding – “or higher”- forecast for the middle of the year, Saffas are also concerned about the news of an impending increase in electricity prices.

This week, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) announced an 18,65% tariff hike for the 2023/24 financial year, meaning that we will be expected to pay more for (not much) electricity come April.

This is going to have a devastating effect on South Africans’ ability to survive and pay bills – never mind the cost of food!

Kerusha Govender, 30, from Paarl/George told News24 that the increase has made her anxious, angry, and confused:

“I am quite disturbed to hear we will be getting an increase for a service that is completely unreliable and unstable. I am concerned about the impact it will have on my budget. I’m angry and wondering why we, as a country, are not protesting,” she said.

It is indeed madness that we will have to pay an increased tariff rate for just a few hours of electricity usage, a problem that the city of Cape Town is trying to budget for accordingly.

EWN notes that around 15% of customers in the Cape Town metro area are still on Eskom’s grid and will be affected by the tariff hike, but Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, is still crunching the numbers and working on the budget.

While Hill-Lewis argues that not the city nor civilians should pay for Eskom’s problems, the City of Cape Town may have no choice but to absorb the new tariff increase and pass the buck to us:

“When you’re dealing with a billion rand a month and a 18% increase, it’s R180 billion a month; now that’s not possible for a municipality, any municipality in South Africa to absorb on its own,” said Hill-Lewis.

Listen to the interview with John Maytham and Geordin Hill-Lewis for the full lowdown:

The City of Cape Town municipality’s electricity department’s budget is close to completion but has to be altered based on the recent 18,65% increase.

We will have to wait until March, when the budget is released, to see if the municipality’s increase will exceed Eskom’s.

[sources:news24&ewn]