Parliament, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 – Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Energy, Mr Mr Fikile Majola, told the Committee that they had to find a different approach to oversight in order to hold State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) such as Eskom more accountable. Echoing this view, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Ms Thembisile Majola, added that Eskom serviced the majority of South Africans, the poor in particular, and therefore needed to always function optimally.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) provided the Committee with their reasons for approving an average percentage price increase of 5.23% for electricity, citing that tariff increases impacted on the entire economy. They informed the Committee that they had advised Eskom that the disjuncture between the actual sale and price of electricity was becoming an unsustainable debt trap threatening both ESKOM and the South African economy. To resolve this Eskom had to reduce their expenditure while improving their revenue collection.

The Nersa revenue and tariff decision will be implemented for a period of one year starting 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 for non-municipal customers and from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019 for municipal customers. However, they cautioned that ESKOM, requested a 19% increase and might therefore take their decision on review.

Mr Majola thanked NERSA for their report to the Committee and suggested that there needed to be a new dawn on how parliamentary committees practiced their oversight responsibility. 

ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENERGY, MR FIKILE MAJOLA. 

For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the Committee’s Media Officer:

Name: Yoliswa Landu
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 8203
Cell: 081 4974694
E-mail: sugovender@parliament.gov.za