A public hearing on the review of the municipal tariff guideline increase, benchmarks and proposed timelines for the 2022/23 municipal tariff approval process will be held on Friday 13 May.
On Thursday 24 February, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) approved a tariff of 133,64c/kWh for 2021-’22 and 146,48c/kWh for 2022-’23, which results in a 9,61% increase.
Eskom’s application had been for 20,5%. To enable the municipal tariff process to be finalised for implementation by Friday 1 July, Nersa needs to publish the final guideline increase and benchmarks by Wednesday 11 May.
Originally, Nersa opted to follow a notice and comment process instead of holding a public hearing, citing a perceived lack of interest in such a hearing and serious time constraints as the impetus behind its decision.
It published a consultation paper (Municipal Tariff Guideline Increase, Benchmarks and Proposed Timelines for the Municipal Tariff Approval Process for the 2022-’23 Financial Year) on Wednesday 30 March which requested stakeholders to comment on the specific issues raised.
The deadline for the submission of comments was Friday 22 April.
However, on Sunday 9 April, Nersa said the energy regulator had changed its mind because several stakeholders had been identified who requested that a public hearing be held on the matter.
The public hearing, which will run from 13:00 to 16:00 on Friday 13 May, will be held via a virtual platform (MS Teams).
- Members of the public and stakeholders who wish to attend or present their views at the public hearing must submit their request to publichearings@nersa.org.za by 15:30 on Thursday 12 May for the attention of Eleazer Dlamini. The consultation document is available on the Nersa website at www.nersa.org.za, under “Electricity>Consultation>Documents”.
