'Eskom must not be allowed to punish consumers for its failures'

Bruce Whitfield interviews Melanie Veness (Association of South African Chambers) and energy analyst Chris Yelland.

Eskom should not punish consumers with tariff hikes for its failures, the Association of South African Chambers (Asac) said in its presentation to the energy regulator (Nersa) said on Monday.

Eskom is applying to increase the price of electricity by 20.5% - almost four times the inflation rate.

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Monday was the first day of public hearings into Eskom’s application.

Nersa will make its decision next month.

Asac slammed Eskom for expecting consumers to pay for the repeated failures and cost overruns at its Medupi and Kusile coal-fired power stations.

The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviewed Melanie Veness, Vice-Chair at Asac (scroll up to listen).

He also spoke to energy analyst Chris Yelland of EE Business Intelligence.

The private sector cannot be expected to fund these inefficiencies and corruption… Their application for tariffs should be limited to the cost incurred to provide service…

Melanie Veness, Vice-Chair - Association of South African Chambers

We’re making bad decisions on already inflated tariffs… It’s unaffordable now… We used to offer the cheapest electricity. We’re now frightfully expensive…

Melanie Veness, Vice-Chair - Association of South African Chambers

Who is going to pay for Medupi and Kusile? It happened a long time ago… and the responsible people are long gone… One way or another… we’re going to pay...

Chris Yelland, energy analyst - EE Business Intelligence

Restructuring Eskom to make it more efficient requires a lot of political will…

Chris Yelland, energy analyst - EE Business Intelligence

Eskom seems to think all its problems can be solved by lifting its price… It will drive Eskom into a death spiral!

Chris Yelland, energy analyst - EE Business Intelligence

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