Nersa blunders could cost South African taxpayers R40bn more for electricity

Stephen Grootes speaks to energy expert, Ruse Moleshe about the utility's latest court challenge against Nersa's revenue and tariff decisions.

Listen to the interview in the audio player below.

Things are likely to get worse for consumers before they get any better.

Just when you thought your household can't possibly pay more for electricity usage...think again.

According to an article on moneyweb.co.za, consumers could fork out at least R40 billion more for Eskom electricity following a settlement between the utility and the energy regulator Nersa.

In other words, Eskom will hike electricity tariffs again, and consumers will once again foot the bill.

This exorbitant bill stems from mistakes made by Nersa regarding the calculation of Eskom’s revenue and tariffs.

The settlement dates back to the financial years 2015 to 2021.

Eskom is likely to challenge the the R40 billion amount, believing Nersa's errors amount to more.

Nersa’s electricity subcommittee is due to meet at a special meeting on Wednesday 16 July, where this is likely to be discussed.

Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, energy expert, Ruse Moleshe says it has happened before where Nersa has been wrong and had to recover tariffs over a period of time.

"Eskom is alerting that Nersa, in terms of looking at its asset base of Eskom and how they have evaluated them, they have made a mistake."

- Ruse Moleshe, energy expert

"...so if the calculation is relatively low, the return on investment is going to be lower as well. So the contention is that there are some assets that were not taken into account like the Koeberg power plant and others. So if the base is wrong, then that means, according to Eskom the actual assessment is incorrect and Eskom will want to recover that." 

- Ruse Moleshe, energy expert

"At the end of the day, Nersa's role is to not to play to any gallery. Whether it's to please Eskom or to please the consumer. They're supposed to be independent and evaluate according to the methodology that is regulated and assessed inline with that."

- Ruse Moleshe, energy expert

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.