EFF calls on NERSA to reject Eskom’s 32% price hike request
12 January 2023
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) calls upon the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to vehemently reject the application brought by Eskom to hike electricity prices by 32%.
NERSA, as per its statutes is an independent energy regulator and has the duty to uphold fair energy prices for the citizens of this country. We therefore call upon it to fulfil its obligatory duties and reject the 32% price hike request brought by Eskom.
The vast problems of Eskom as a power utility are not as a result of the majority of poor citizens of our country, but are consequences of the ANC, its maladministration and corruption which has been left unattended for decades.
The corruption includes diesel and coal theft syndicates aswell as dodgy dealings with corrupt and inadequate service providers. To punish poor, ordinary citizens for this rampant corruption is unethical, immoral and unfair.
Over the past ten years, electricity tariffs have increased by a staggering 753% which means that consumers are already paying high electricity prices which raises eyebrows as to whether NERSA is indeed as independent as it claims to be.
These electricity hikes happen amidst continuous rolling electricity blackouts, with many parts of South Africa not having electricity for a minimum of six hours a day, while conditions are worse for impoverished areas. Citizens are subjected to increasing crime levels due to blackouts, hospitals are struggling to keep people alive, while learners and students are forced to study using candles amongst many inconveniences.
Increasing electricity prices is a deliberate act of cutting millions of South Africans from access to electricity, as it will be too expensive to afford. The poor should not be used as fundraising pawns for the more than R300 billion lost by Eskom through corruption and poor management.
Instead, Eskom should be fixing the collapsing electricity grid system designed by Apartheid to exclude blacks. Eskom should be engaged with maintaining and expanding infrastructure to allow more access and for electricity to reach all corners of our country.
Eskom must in addition to other interventions establish a state green energy industry to supplement energy generation. The entity should desist from giving energy responsibilities to the private sector through Independent Power Producers (IPP's), who have taken steps to leave the majority of our people in perpetual darkness through making electricity inaccessible.
If there is any inch and ounce of independence left within NERSA, which is free from the dictatorship of the corrupt politicians and the elite few, the electricity price hike should be rejected and we await an announcement and decision confirming the rejection.
Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 12 January 2022
