Electricity price hike will hit families, destroy businesses, force layoffs: DA

The proposed 36% electricity tariff increase by Eskom will plunge South Africans further into poverty.

This is according to the DA which on Thursday staged a protest outside the offices of national energy regulator Nersa, demanding that it rejects Eskom’s application for a hike in electricity prices.

The party said more than 200,000 people had signed its petition calling for Nersa to turn down the power utility’s request.

DA MP and spokesperson on energy and electricity Kevin Mileham argued that South Africans were already under severe financial pressure and a price hike would deepen their difficulties.

“This increase will devastate households and businesses already burdened by high costs of living,” said Mileham. “It will destroy small businesses, force layoffs and push even more families into poverty. This is not just unfair; it is an outrage.”

He said South Africans were already paying for Eskom’s inefficiencies through taxes and billions in government bailouts.

“So far, it's R500bn in bailouts and now they want a third payment in the form of a 36.15% tariff increase. And for what? For us to keep paying for their luxury spending, for a company that buys a roll of toilet paper for R26, the same roll that you and I would pay R8 for,” said Mileham.

“Imagine how little respect Eskom has for you, the people who struggle every day to make ends meet if this is how they manage the money we entrust to them.”

“This electricity price hike is nothing less than Eskom's attempt to shove the cost its incompetence and corruption onto ordinary citizens — more than 36%.”

DA Tshwane caucus leader Cilliers Brink said the DA’s fight against the increase was legitimate given the poverty in the country.

“It's very important that somebody fights for ordinary South Africans who find themselves in the midst of an affordability crisis. Many households are at the point where they have to choose between groceries and basics and paying their municipal bill,” he said. 

“We've already had year upon year of above-inflation increases from Eskom which municipalities have had to force on to consumers and that has led to illegal connections, deteriorating infrastructure and making the lives of already vulnerable folks even worse.”

Brink said part of Nersa's mandate was to take into account the protection of consumers and that the DA wanted to ensure that was taken seriously.

“A [40% increase] means the municipality has to pay that and municipalities are already struggling with their finances. The Gauteng metros all owe Eskom money,” he said.

“Just because there isn't load-shedding now doesn't mean there isn't a legacy of Eskom failures that municipalities now have to carry.”

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