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Cape Town - Opposition to Eskom’s application for an extra tariff hike is increasing, with union federation Cosatu saying it would not not support any further burden on the working class and the poor through high electricity tariffs.
“We argue that 36% rate of unemployment, 1.3% GDP growth in the Q1 of 2015 and the fact that more than 50% of South Africans are living in poverty doesn’t warrant electricity hikes,” the Congress of South African Trade Unions said in its submission to the National Energy Regulator (Nersa), opposing Eskom's application.
To address South Africa's power crisis, Eskom on May 8 made an urgent application to Nersa to increase the electricity tariff by 25.3% for the 2015/2016 financial year, including the 12.69% price increase that has already been approved.
In Cosatu’s view, the "Presidency-led War Room" which advised Eskom to apply for an increase has "contradicted President Jacob Zuma’s sentiment in the 2012 State of the Nation Address, where he raised a serious concern about high electricity tariffs and because of that Eskom applied for its 25.9% to be reduced to 16%".
Cosatu said it also condemns the Treasury for arguing that the solution to load shedding lies with the high electricity tariffs, adding that this is also contradicting the President. "The Treasury also said Eskom will not receive further equity injection,” Cosatu argued.
Grossly unfair
Acting Eskom CEO Brian Molefe said at Eskom’s quarterly state of the system briefing on Wednesday that the pain of consumers paying more was far less than the damage power cuts would cause to the economy.
"If we don’t have the diesel, then we go into load shedding sooner and it will be more severe,” Molefe said following a briefing on the state of the country’s power system.
The power utility was spending about R1.5bn a month on diesel to power its open cycle gas turbines, and needed billions more to keep them running.
READ: High power prices or power cuts, says Brian Molefe
In his own submission to Nersa opposing Eskom's tariff hike application, energy expert Chris Yellend urged Nersa to reject Eskom’s request on the basis that it is “unreasonable, unfair and fundamentally dishonest”.
Yelland, who was lambasted by Molefe on Wednesday, told Fin24 on Monday that all the increases which Eskom is trying to get passed through to the customer are actually a result of the supplier’s own failings.
Referring to how Eskom can do maintenance without load shedding, Molefe took a swipe at Yelland, saying: "I have not seen anything that is constructive. I will take your comments not with a pinch, but with a tablespoon of salt."
READ: Molefe's ambitious winter plan for load shedding - As it happened
Another voice joining the growing opposition against the tariff hikes, was that of the Commission for Justice and Peace for the Catholic Bishops.
The commission's chairperson Bishop Abel Gabuza lashed out at Eskom on Wednesday, saying its crisis is a result of poor management and cumulative lack of political will to tackle the energy crisis in a comprehensive and sustainable manner.
"It is unfair to pass on the financial burden of Eskom failures on the customers, especially the poor,” Gabuza in a statement.
The commission warned that the poor will be the ones hardest hit by the tariff hikes. “The increase in electricity tariffs will influence price hikes in food and other essential products that are used by the poor as the firms pass on their electricity price increases to consumers.
"The poor in our country are already struggling to make ends meet. We should not add further burden.”
Gabuza has called on Nersa to use the current Eskom application to send a strong message to the government and Eskom to address the systemic issues behind the Eskom crisis.
