Legal threat against Eskom’s R938 solar power tariff
South African trade union Solidarity has said it would implement legal proceedings against Eskom if the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) approves its R938 tariff for solar power users.
The union described Eskom’s application — which it has submitted to Nersa — as absurd, irrational, and unlawful.
The power utility’s proposal could see power users on the lower end of the usage spectrum and on-grid solar users paying hundreds of rands more every month.
Specifically, users on Eskom Homepower and Homeflex tariff plans will be affected, while those on subsidised Homelight services will not.
“If Eskom does not want to be involved in solutions itself we will litigate until at least Eskom no longer stands in the way of others who want to solve the matter,” Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said.
According to Solidarity. Eskom is transforming itself from being an obstacle to power security into a threat to it.
“It is one thing if Eskom does not want to contribute towards solving South Africa’s power crisis,” Hermann said.
“However, by making proposals such as this, Eskom is changing from being a millstone around the neck to being an enemy of reliable power supply.”
Solidarity believes that the country’s only hope of resolving the power crisis lies in small-scale power generation taking place on a large scale and that South Africa should be encouraging private power generation.
It said Eskom’s tariff application only exacerbates South Africa’s power supply issues.
“Instead of encouraging private power generation, Eskom now wants to tax it. Paying tax for a service is one thing; to pay taxes for no service is something totally different,” Hermann stated.
“Eskom now indeed wants to tax South Africans who are starting to provide their own services as a result of Eskom’s inability to supply power.”
“The proposal should be eliminated as soon as possible,” Hermann added.
Solidarity chief executive Dirk Hermann.
According to Eskom, its current tariff structure subsidises those households with lower usage through the fees charged to those who use more power.
The utility said its new tariffs would be designed so that, as far as possible, the average customer should pay no more or less than their current tariff structure.
“The aim is not to get additional revenue but to rebalance tariffs in such a way that fixed costs are recovered to a greater extent by fixed charges,” it said.
However, it would see Eskom customers using less than 900kWh a month pay substantially more than they are currently charged.
Eskom’s proposed new tariffs would see an increased fixed capacity charge on their bill. Those using no electricity during a month would still have to pay Eskom R938.
A customer that previously used 400kWh on Homepower 1 would be paying R593 more a month on the proposed new Homepower 1 tariff.
Those using around 800kWh a month would pay R271 more, while customers who use over 1,000kWh would pay less.
Therefore, Eskom appears to be disincentivising the use of self-generation with the grid as a backup.
The chart below illustrates how an electricity bill for various usage levels would compare if Eskom implements the proposed changes to its Homepower 1 tariff.
It also illustrates that implementing the new tariff would be detrimental to solar power users who only use grid power occasionally.
Loading ...