26 August 2025
All indications are that the energy regulator Nersa has once again entered a settlement with Eskom regarding its tariffs, which will cost consumers billions.
As it did in May, the regulator is again doing this in secret.
Moneyweb wrote in July that Nersa would, at a special meeting of its electricity sub-committee, make a recommendation to the regulator – its highest decision-making body – about a “correction of error” in its determination of Eskom’s revenue for the current and the next two years.
This was listed as an agenda point for the meeting scheduled for 16 July.
It pertained to the Regulatory Asset Base, which Nersa miscalculated, according to Eskom. Moneyweb learnt that Eskom had taken Nersa’s decision on review in the high court and, according to court documents, Eskom argued that Nersa’s mistake resulted in a revenue award that was R30 billion lower than it was entitled to.
Calculated estimate
What the impact will be remains to be seen. To get an idea, Moneyweb asked Eskom’s former senior manager for electricity pricing Deon Conradie to make some calculations.
Conradie emphasises that the additional revenue Eskom is entitled to in terms of the settlement will almost certainly not be recovered in one go, but over several years – in other words, added to the tariffs the public must pay for electricity.
The earlier settlement, following Eskom’s court challenges to five different decisions Nersa took between 2015 and 2021 on amounts the utility was entitled to claw back from consumers at the end of a tariff year, amounted to R40 billion to be added to Eskom’s revenue.
Source: Citizen
