Nersa increases electricity tariff by 18.62% & irks opposition parties such as the DA

Following the decision to hike the electricity tariff in South Africa by the energy regulator, Nersa, president Cyril Ramaphosa said his hands are tied.

Speaking on Thursday after the decision was made, the head of state said, through his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, that Eskom needs money.

Magwenya reacted to the news that the South African Energy Regulator, Nersa announced an 18.65% price hike on Thursday.

As many South Africa lambasted the decision considering the fact that there is load shedding and high unemployment rate, it seems many will still find it hard to digest the news.

The National Energy Regulator was considering a 32% tariff hike application from Eskom, while South Africans have to go for hours without electricity.

Magwenya said Ramaphosa’s hands were tied when it came to asking South Africans to pay even more for the scarce commodity.

“Eskom does need the money and is in need of funding and therefore there’s a balance that has to be maintained,” he said per EWN.

Magwenya said the President was meeting regularly with the national energy crisis committee to implement solutions to end the energy crunch.

“The devastation to small businesses and the adverse impact to the economy remains severe for South Africa’s recovering economy,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa has since apologised to South Africans for the inconveniences caused by load shedding.

Looking at the same topic involving Eskom and load shedding, the Democratic Alliance has written a letter to Ramaphosa calling him to an urgent meeting as the country faces the challenge of Stage 6.

Political parties such as ActionSA have joined the DA in voicing their displeasure with the development, especially with the devastating power crisis.

Its leader, John Steenhuisen described the increase implemented by Nersa as an official daylight robbery.

“Instead of acknowledging that overburdened consumers are currently carrying the dead weight of a collapsing Eskom monopoly, Nersa instead chose to protect itself from further litigation by Eskom and agreed to grant this exorbitant electricity price increase,” Steenhuisen said.

ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba said South Africans were already battling high inflation, declining public services, and escalating food prices, and would now face an exorbitant 18.6% electricity increase.

“While our people are resilient and can withstand great adversity, it is difficult to remain optimistic when it is patently evident that the ANC government has no plan to end our energy crisis,” he is quoted by IOL.

“A feasible solution has to be pursued because the ratepayer cannot continue to pay for historical and persistent mismanagement of our power utility.”