Tariffs: Eskom do-over on the cards
|Published
File photo: Dean Hutton/Bloomberg. File photo: Dean Hutton/Bloomberg.
Johannesburg - The government has encouraged Eskom to rewrite and resubmit its price-hike application within weeks.
“Eskom is in the process of preparing for its full application to Nersa with regard to the third multi-year electricity price determination which will be submitted before the end of July 2015,” government spokesman Donald Liphoko said.
He confirmed that Eskom hoped to get a retrospective decision which would still allow it to hike prices from April this year, the start of the Eskom financial year 2015-16. “(But) it’s not a given that they’re going to get it.”
There are also legal difficulties for the municipalities, which are barred from changing their tariffs for a year, once their new financial year starts on Wednesday.
Liphoko said the renewed application would be discussed in greater detail on Friday at a meeting of the War Room, the forum set up by the cabinet on Eskom.
On Monday, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa refused Eskom’s request to hike prices to raise nearly R53 billion more to cover the costs of running the expensive diesel-powered generators and pay private short-term power suppliers to help avoid load shedding.
Nersa turned down the application because it didn’t comply with the rules.
louise.flanagan@inl.co.za
The Star