By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) says it still has no decision on Eskom’s application to hike electricity prices by 32% in 2023.
In what was supposed to be the electricity subcommittee’s final meeting for the year, the regulator said that it was still not ready to make a determination on the application.
Nersa was expected to announce its decision to approve or dismiss the application at the end of November but instead postponed the matter to 14 December so it could deal with ‘numbers that were not adding up’.
However, the subcommittee heard on Wednesday that more time was needed.
“Eskom’s submission was received in September, and there was a lot of guidance on how to proceed,” it said. “Certain numbers didn’t tally, and the regulator was asked to expand the work. The work still needs to be done. There are vast areas that need improvement.”
When asked how much more time was needed to resolve the issues, the response was “a day and a half”, working flat-out.
This raised eyebrows among subcommittee members, who noted that the time given since 29 November was clearly insufficient, so another day and a half could hardly make a difference.
“Work needs to be done on an urgent basis,” the subcommittee said, adding that the decision needs to be made soon: Nersa only has until 24 December, a deadline issued by the courts.
The meeting closed without clarity on when the decision will be made, with only a vague guideline that a rushed decision could be made before the end of the week. The subcommittee chair requested a timeline and plan of action be submitted by the end of the day.
“We will indicate from the plan in terms of when issues will be done. We may need to explore alternative requests, with some engagements we may have to have with the applicant (Eskom) as well in this matter.
“In essence…although this matter was referred back, we still have a lot of gaps…they are requesting more time to fill these gaps,” it said.
One decision the subcommittee managed to approve was the RCA allocation of R3.61 billion for the 2019/20 financial year, which Eskom will be able to recover. This will be implemented over three years starting from 2024/25, it said.
Eskom has applied for massive electricity price hikes over the last few years, each of which has been rejected by Nersa, citing general unaffordability.
Eskom has argued that its tariffs do not reflect the cost to produce electricity, and Nersa’s limitations are creating a ‘backlog’ of hikes – a bubble that is about to burst.
The embattled power utility needs funding urgently to tend to its operational needs, such as securing more diesel for its open-cycle gas turbines to help keep high levels of load shedding at bay.