ANC STATEMENT ON NERSA

The African National Congress (ANC) congratulates the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) for applying its mind on the multi-year electricity price increase proposal by Eskom.

Their decision to increase electricity by 24.8 percent beginning April 2010, 25.8 percent in 2011 and 25.9 percent in the following year, is a vast improvement on the original proposal by Eskom for tariff increases of 35 percent over a three-year period.

Although we congratulate NERSA, we should at the same time state that the electricity tariff increases remain high and require other interventions to reduce the endemic poverty in our country. We call upon all municipal distributors, which effected a 34 percent increase in the 2009/10 financial year to adhere to the NERSA guidelines of implementing a municipal guideline increase of 15,33 percent from July 1, of 16,03 percent from July 1, 2011, and 16,16 percent from July 1, 2012.

As a nation, we have the duty and responsibility to ensure security of supply as an investment in sustainable economic growth into the future. It is in this context that we - again - make the call that our country needs a holistic and comprehensive approach to energy provisioning and sustainability. We also believe that such a holistic and comprehensive approach should not put the burden of the energy industry recapitalisation solely on the poor consumers.

It is our view that such a holistic and comprehensive approach should - among others - look at the funding model as well as the energy mix options available in the country, including green energy.

Statement issued by Jackson Mthembu, African National Congress national spokesperson, February 24 2010

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