Protestors during the DA National Day Of Action Against Electricity Extortion on 18 September 2024 in Cape Town. (Photo: Misha Jordaan / Gallo Images) 
South Africans will embark on mass protest action if a proposed 36% increase in electricity tariffs is implemented.
This was the message in the National Assembly on Thursday, with politicians across the political spectrum uniting in criticism of the potential increases.
“It is apparent that the board of Eskom don’t know that 45% of South Africans live on Sassa [SA Social Security Agency] grants, and the board of [independent energy regulator] Nersa simply don’t care,” said National Coloured Congress (NCC) leader Fadiel Adams, who promised “the kind of protests we last saw in 1976” if the increases go through.
One of the reasons for the proposed hike is the R8-billion-plus that Eskom needs to recover for the 2022 financial year.
The DA’s Kevin Mileham, who sponsored the National Assembly debate, described the national electricity pricing policy as “decades out of date” and Nersa’s methodologies as “inadequate”.
Mileham told Parliament that electricity prices in South Africa had risen by 945% over the past 17 years, and the country was now in the top 50% of countries with the most expensive electricity.
“To put this in perspective, an average household using 350 kilowatt-hours in 2007 would have paid just R69.30. Today they are paying R724.50,” said Mileham.
Read more: Eskom wants an increase in electricity tariffs of up to 44% next year
DA accused of hypocrisy over Cape Town municipal hikes
A protester at the DA National Day Of Action Against Electricity Extortion on 18 September 2024. (Photo: Misha Jordaan / Gallo Images)
The DA, however, found itself in the centre of a firestorm over the controversial issue of the electricity price hikes implemented by the DA-run City of Cape Town over the past two years.
Over the 2022/23 period, the City of Cape Town implemented a 9.6% tariff increase, while Nersa recommended just 7.46%.
Over the 2023/24 period, the municipality implemented a 17.6% hike compared with the Nersa-approved increase of 15.1%.
Political parties on Wednesday accused the DA of hypocrisy for leading the charge against Nersa’s price hikes when its own municipality had imposed even higher increases — and had even gone to court against Nersa to defend them.
ActionSA MP Malebo Kobe accused the DA of running a “PR campaign” while “their actions where they govern tell a startlingly different story”.
Kobe charged: “The City [of Cape Town] uses ratepayers’ money to fund its litigation battle to defend these unlawful increases.”
The NCC’s Adams expressed the issue succinctly: “The same party that is vehemently opposed to the increases, increases the increases.”
The ANC’s Fasiha Hassan, acting as the party’s sweeper in the debate, described it as “intriguing” that the DA, as a member of the Government of National Unity, was “attacking Eskom for attempting to recover what is owed to them”.
Hassan said that a large part of the problem was the surcharges slapped on top of electricity prices by municipalities.
If South Africans were all buying electricity directly from Eskom, Hassan said, it would cost R1.78 per kilowatt-hour.
“But the reality is municipalities, particularly the City of Cape Town, have a number of hidden surcharges, and right now the most expensive electricity in the country happens to be in the City of Cape Town,” said Hassan.
“The City of Cape Town charges R3.44 for the first 600 units of electricity but over R4 for anything over 600 units, which is more than 100% [more] than what the cost of Eskom electricity is.”
Defending the DA, MP Mlindi Nhanha told critics: “We are not debating City of Cape Town electricity.”
Ramokgopa promises cushioning for the poor
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa attempted to assuage the cross-party concerns by pointing out that an official determination on the electricity increases would be made only in December, and until then public consultation would continue.
He clarified that the R8-billion owed to Eskom need not be recouped within a particular window, but could be made up over several financial years.
Read more: No immediate fix for municipal tariff hikes, says energy minister
The electricity minister said further measures would be implemented to ensure that South Africans who qualified for free basic electricity received it.
He said a pilot programme would be launched before the end of November to roll out solar panels and inverters to low-income households.
Ramokgopa said he agreed that the price hikes were “untenable and unaffordable”, but urged the public to trust that the most economically vulnerable would be protected.
“I am confident that we are going to arrive at a dispensation where we can cushion the poor,” said the minister.
“That’s the assurance I’m giving to the South African people.” DM