Consumers will cough up for Eskom price hike

EISHKOM, we may just have to pay more for electricity.

Eskom has applied to the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) for a review of its income and expenditure for the 2012/13 financial year, which means consumers may face yet another increase in electricity tariffs.

This would be over and above the 8% already approved last year. The parastatal paid more for coal than budgeted, and now that money has to be recovered somehow… and well, the consumer has to cough up.

The already overburdened consumer, especially those in the low-income bracket, cannot afford another hike.

The economy has not fully recovered from the financial crisis of 2007–2008, also known as the Global Financial Crisis. The corporate sector, and mining in particular, continues to shed jobs in a bid to remain profitable.

The National Credit Regulator, in a statement last month, said the credit bureau statistics reported for the quarter ended September 2013 indicate that consumers are falling further into debt.

The number of consumers with bad credit increased from 9.69 million to 9.76 million.

If Nersa approves another tariff increase over the 8% already granted to Eskom last year, the country will see more consumers defaulting on their electricity payment.

The price hike will result in an increase in strikes with workers demanding wage increases just to cope.

Eskom needs to get its act together.