4.41% price hike for power on cards

The energy regulator will allow power utility Eskom to claw back R31.1bn from consumers through a 4.41% electricity price hike over the next four years.

The hike is over and above another tariff application – yet to be decided on – wherein Eskom has requested the regulator to hike tariffs 15% for the next three years, energy analyst Chris Yelland noted.

“What it really means is that, come April 1 next year [2019], we are going to have a mighty price increase,” he said.

On Tuesday the National Energy Regulator of SA announced it had approved the liquidation of Eskom’s third multiyear price determination regulatory clearing account, meaning the utility may now retrospectively recover costs it had incurred over the past three years that had not been assumed or budgeted for.

The 4.41% increase will come into effect in April 2019, allowing R31.1bn to be recovered from standard customers over the next four years.

In the same way, R1.58m more will be recovered from negotiated price agreements and international customers, the regulator said.

The recovery is significantly less than the R66.6bn Eskom originally asked for, but the 4.41% price hike will still add to mounting cost pressures such as higher food and petrol prices for households.