The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) has approved Eskom’s revised electricity tariff increases of 8.76% for April this year and a 8.83% increase to kick in by April 2027.
These revised tariffs were initially set at 5.36% for 2026/27 and a further increase of 6.19% for the 2027/28 financial year.
NERSA justified the redetermination and defended the methods used to reach the figures.
“The redetermination follows a High Court judgment [in December], which remitted NERSA’s decision on Eskom’s Generation RAB [Regulatory Asset Base] for 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 for redetermination. The redetermination was conducted using the approved MYPD4 [Multi-Year Price Determination] Methodology, following a public consultation process in line with the court judgement”, NERSA explained.
While the entity highlighted that the total additional revenue for Eskom will be implemented in phases, Trade federation COSATU bemoaned the announcement of these hikes, describing them as means to undermine ongoing efforts towards affordable electricity.
“Although we appreciate and sympathise with the need for Eskom to balance its books, this must be done by plugging the billions lost annually to wasteful expenditure, corruption and criminality, and in particular tackling the soaring municipal debt owed to Eskom, currently at R100 billion and rising by R20 billion annually”, said COSATU’s Parliamentary Coordinator, Matthew Parks.
He urged NERSA to go back to the drawing board and reconsider these adjustments and structure them in a way that won’t plunge ordinary South Africans into poorer conditions.
