Eskom representatives came under fire during the public hearings on their fourth multi-year price determination at the Dolphins Conference Centre in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
Business and community representatives took to the podium rejecting their proposed tariff hike of 15% per annum over the next three years, with speakers pointing at Eskom for poor management and operation systems, resulting in the exorbitant hike.
National Energy Regulator (NERSA) – the regulatory body that monitors and decides on the final tariff hike - chairwoman Nomfundo Maseti said Eskom should revisit their application and detail their internal failures which contributed to the proposed 15% increase.
“It is very clear that from this and the previous hearings that the issue of affordability is a serious concern. The other main thing is we want Eskom to take accountability and not transfer all the negative impact of their own actions onto consumers.
“So Eskom has also undertaken to look at the cost responsibility from their side and adjust their current request so that they take full accountability of their actions which have put us where we are today,” Maseti said.
Eskom Chief Financial Officer Calib Cassim said they would revise the application to include the extent of their own internal costing and present the revised application to the Nersa panel at the Gauteng hearings at the end of January.