Just when South Africans think Eskom-induced irritation can’t get any worse, it emerges that Eskom bosses want citizens to pay up now for bad management mistakes in the past. The plan is to increase Eskom bills by at least 15%. Helping BizNews editor-in-chief Alec Hogg unpack the details is Lydia Petersen, an environmental activist who joined demonstrators in Cape Town where the National Energy Regulator of SA is considering arguments from Eskom to get consumers of electricity to foot the bill for shortfalls. State-owned entity Eskom has been the site of rampant corruption, with former president Jacob Zuma’s friends spotting easy opportunities to raid taxpayers’ funds through Eskom’s back door. International ratings agencies say Eskom is such a drag on the economy that it is one of the major problems that needs to be fixed before funds will flow into South Africa, boosting growth and employment. – Jackie Cameron
Environmental activists and others from civil organisations critical of the management of power utility Eskom have slammed the power utility’s decision-makers for trying to secure a 15% tariff increase on top of huge increases they had in the past.
In this podcast, Lydia Petersen of Project 90 By 2030 speaks to Alec Hogg about Eskom’s Regulatory Clearing Account (RCA) and why members of her group have held public demonstrations about the mechanism that allows for big tariff hikes.
Eskom describes the RCA as “a monitoring and tracking mechanism that compares certain uncontrollable costs and revenues… to actual costs and revenues incurred by Eskom”.
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Peterson cuts through the technicalities, explaining that Eskom is allowed to ask for shortfalls, which they have had over the years, plus an increase of between 12 and 17%.
She tells the BizNews founder and editor-in-chief there were about 200 demonstrators trying to bring pressure on the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa). Petersen highlights some bills that Eskom is passing on to consumers – and these include costs linked to loadshedding and overspending on turbines.
But, the person on the street, who must ultimately pay for the increases, was not reflected in attendance at the Nersa hearing on the RCA in Cape Town on Monday, she notes.
Hogg asks: “Everybody knows Eskom costs are a problem, so what do you do as a citizen?”
Petersen says she decided to be “that person” who will “enable some of my country women and men to find a voice and stand up against whatever injustice is dealt to them”.
Petersen says decommissioning power stations will mean job losses.
She says most of the people she works with want to push Eskom to embrace renewable energy.
“We want clean energy. At the moment that’s not happening.”
She tells of the atmosphere at Nersa hearings, including that activists booed when Eskom delegates delivered presentations.
