EFF, DA slam higher Eskom tariff hikes after R54bn Nersa calculation blunder

The DA and the EFF have both condemned the electricity tariff increases announced by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) this week.

Nersa announced that the tariff hikes would have to be higher at 8.76% in 2026/27 and 8.83% in 2027/28 after it had approved R54.734 billion in additional allowable revenue for Eskom. The tariff hikes had to be redetermined after Nersa had made an error in calculations regarding Eskom's revenue.

Eskom and Nersa then agreed to correct this and confirmed a settlement with Eskom with an amount of R54 billion mentioned.  They approached the Gauteng High Court to have this settlement agreement made an order of the court but the court in December rejected the agreement and ordered that there be public consultation on the matter.

Nersa said this week that it had considered the public comments and decided on approving the R54.734 billion in additional allowable revenue for Eskom.

The phased recovery will see “R12 million… recovered in 2026/27FY and R23 million in 2027/28FY,” with the balance to be recovered beyond the MYPD6 period.

The regulator stressed that the approach “limits additional price impacts to single-digit increases in 2026/27 and 2027/28, and avoids any retrospective adjustment for 2025/26, in line with the court's judgment.”

But opposition parties argue that the outcome effectively reinstates what the court had set aside.

DA spokesperson on Electricity and Energy Kevin Mileham said the party would “fight tooth and nail” against what he described as Nersa’s “upcoming 18.36% increase in electricity tariffs”.

“This ‘redetermination’, which arrives at the identical figure Judge Jan Swanepoel dismissed as a ‘thumb-suck’ in December, proves that NERSA’s public consultation process was a cynical charade designed to legalise a repackaged secret deal,” Mileham said.

By returning to what he called an “arbitrary R54.734 billion figure”, NERSA had “chosen to side with Eskom against the judiciary and the consumer,” he said.

The EFF also issued a strongly worded statement condemning the increases.

“The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) condemns in the strongest possible terms, the decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to approve even steeper electricity tariff increases for Eskom following court intervention,” the party said.

It argued that the decision “once again confirms that the working class and the poor are being punished for the failures, incompetence, and mismanagement of state institutions.”

The EFF said NERSA had revised the increases upwards to 8.76% from April 2026 and 8.83% from April 2027, “significantly higher than the previously approved 5.36% and 6.19% for those years.”

“South Africans are now expected to pay more simply because the regulator failed to do its job properly in the first place,” the party said.

The EFF further claimed that South Africans were “effectively being charged twice, first as taxpayers, and again as electricity consumers”, arguing that profitability achieved through higher tariffs imposed on the poor “is pure exploitation.”

For more stories from The Mercury, click the link THE MERCURY