Stop the 8% increment of electricity tariffs
Stop the 8% increment of electricity tariffs
The Issue
We the undersigned community of Daveyton and Etwatwa herein expresses our objection to the proposed increase of 8.76% in electricity tariffs as was announced by Nersa. As a community, we have been made aware that this follows a previous recorded error by Eskom Holdings in the 2025FY.
The community residing in these two townships is estimated at 160.000 and 182.000 respectively and boasts the prevalence of a large number of young people who are out of school and are unemployed.
The township records a number of beneficiaries of the Special Relief of Distress Grant amounting to R370.00 while a number of households are child-headed and others survive on the pensioner grant provided by the State.
The areas of economic activity only three (3) shopping centreswhich are located in Daveyton with a fourth one which was recently officially opened in Etwatwa. The townships have only four (4) filling stations with the fifth one having closed down. In terms of local employment therefore, we can only point to the referred to areas as the only points where a few of the community members are employed.
The local economy in terms of spaza shops (informal) has been on the news recently with calls for government to intervene in support of the locals who have to have to compete for the space with migrants from other countries. On the same vein and to illustrate the economic situation of locals, the Department of Labour has been visiting factories and other centres where in many it was established, that illegal immigrants were employed to render service at low wages. This we stress is being deliberately done so as to exclude locals.
Benoni which is a town serving these two townships has had industries closing down and its economy has declined with a number of buildings either taken or rented out largely to migrants. In short, the only industry that remains standing is the taxi industry.
The afore-going illustration provides the basis of our objection to the proposed electricity tariff increase of 8.67 % based on the economic situation of the referred to communities as well as the electricity service delivery as has been observed over the last period until now.
❖ Economic effect of the increase on the community
The communities referred herein boasts a large number of residents who are unemployed. The reference to unemployed also includes those who fall within the working age bracket but who because of the nature of the economy, finds themselves idling in the township. A huge number of young people who were able to obtain matriculation in recent years have had to struggle to obtain employment. More-so in an economic environment that accommodates post matric though in lesser numbers. The proposed increase comes at a time where the country was exposed to calls by certain groupings about the employments of illegal foreigners in a country where a large number of citizens are not employed (youth included) with many having stopped looking for employment.
Recent statistics for the 2nd quarter of 2026 showed an increase in unemployment with over 33.6% of the population finding themselves unemployed.
Furthermore, the proposed increase comes at a time when Eskom reported a R30.3 billion for financial year 2025/26 with concerns on the revenue on sales which we admit, are cases of both criminality and inability to afford. On the inability to afford, we refer to a March 2026 research report commissioned by the Competition Commission which found that “that township … households continue to face severe economic constraints, with survey results showing, for example, that a significant portion of township and rural residents (53% of respondents in rural towns, 47% in large townships, and 39% in metro townships) earn an income of below R3 500 per month, with substantial
numbers falling below the poverty line, painting a picture of dire economic hardship faced by residents in these areas”.
Undeniably, unemployment coupled with the cost of living has not been favourable to the communities which had signed this objection. We refer to one of NERSA’s Regulatory Principle which states that “The energy regulator should endeavour to take decisions in the public interest as far as possible”. To this we submit, given situation facing households in the area we represent, that the increase as presented is clearly not in the interest of the community which survives below the poverty line.
We further refer to one of the Regulator’s Strategic Goals which is provided as “facilitation of affordability of and accessibility to the energy to balance economic interests of all stakeholders in support of socio-economic development of South Africa and a better life for all”. To this we submit that the increase is not geared towards supporting a better life for the community that signed the objection.
❖ Tariff increase and service delivery
The proposed increase on electricity tariffs follows a 2025 increase which was approved by Nersa. We note that it was not long after the approval that an error in calculation was lodged. The proposed increase come at a time when the residents of emaXhoseni section have been disconnected for a period fourty(40) days without electricity, with the disconnection affecting even those who were consistently paying for the service Eskom was providing.
The proposal comes at a time when the residents have been engaged with Eskom regarding the installation of split-meters whose intention is largely to minimise the negative impact to the entity’s infrastructure and minimise or avert any illegal connections being effected.
Except for the households already living in darkness, those not yet completely disconnected have had to contend with sporadic load reductions which means at certain times, almost the entire townships would find themselves in darkness thus contributing to increased crime and health risks particularly for the elderly living with chronic illness.
OUR CONCLUSION:
With Eskom having recorded a profit of R30.3 billion as recently announced, we believe that that Eskom is bound to experience more profit with the successful implementation of the split-meter installation project which is bound to positively affect its sales. We have been engaged with the communities with a view to ensuring a seamless roll-out of the project as we believe it is in the interests of the nation to have an entity capable of supply while remaining financially healthy.
In light of the back-to-back reports on profit made, we believe that the Eskom request for Nersa to increase electricity tariffs is informed by challenges faced by the SOC in relation to the nature of their network and the related inability to increase sales because of alleged illegal connections and fraudulent electricity tokens.
We also believe that the entity is in a position to employ other mechanisms, such as the split-meter project, to reduce damage to its infrastructure while recording the required sales as per the consumption recorded.
It is our strongest submission that the imposition of the electricity tariff increase will only exacerbate the already dire economic situation which is afflicting our community. It is our respectful submission that given the economic conditions prevailing, it would not be interests of the public to increase the tariffs and by extension, increase the burden of unaffordability on the part of the community.
739
The Issue
We the undersigned community of Daveyton and Etwatwa herein expresses our objection to the proposed increase of 8.76% in electricity tariffs as was announced by Nersa. As a community, we have been made aware that this follows a previous recorded error by Eskom Holdings in the 2025FY.
The community residing in these two townships is estimated at 160.000 and 182.000 respectively and boasts the prevalence of a large number of young people who are out of school and are unemployed.
The township records a number of beneficiaries of the Special Relief of Distress Grant amounting to R370.00 while a number of households are child-headed and others survive on the pensioner grant provided by the State.
The areas of economic activity only three (3) shopping centreswhich are located in Daveyton with a fourth one which was recently officially opened in Etwatwa. The townships have only four (4) filling stations with the fifth one having closed down. In terms of local employment therefore, we can only point to the referred to areas as the only points where a few of the community members are employed.
The local economy in terms of spaza shops (informal) has been on the news recently with calls for government to intervene in support of the locals who have to have to compete for the space with migrants from other countries. On the same vein and to illustrate the economic situation of locals, the Department of Labour has been visiting factories and other centres where in many it was established, that illegal immigrants were employed to render service at low wages. This we stress is being deliberately done so as to exclude locals.
Benoni which is a town serving these two townships has had industries closing down and its economy has declined with a number of buildings either taken or rented out largely to migrants. In short, the only industry that remains standing is the taxi industry.
The afore-going illustration provides the basis of our objection to the proposed electricity tariff increase of 8.67 % based on the economic situation of the referred to communities as well as the electricity service delivery as has been observed over the last period until now.
❖ Economic effect of the increase on the community
The communities referred herein boasts a large number of residents who are unemployed. The reference to unemployed also includes those who fall within the working age bracket but who because of the nature of the economy, finds themselves idling in the township. A huge number of young people who were able to obtain matriculation in recent years have had to struggle to obtain employment. More-so in an economic environment that accommodates post matric though in lesser numbers. The proposed increase comes at a time where the country was exposed to calls by certain groupings about the employments of illegal foreigners in a country where a large number of citizens are not employed (youth included) with many having stopped looking for employment.
Recent statistics for the 2nd quarter of 2026 showed an increase in unemployment with over 33.6% of the population finding themselves unemployed.
Furthermore, the proposed increase comes at a time when Eskom reported a R30.3 billion for financial year 2025/26 with concerns on the revenue on sales which we admit, are cases of both criminality and inability to afford. On the inability to afford, we refer to a March 2026 research report commissioned by the Competition Commission which found that “that township … households continue to face severe economic constraints, with survey results showing, for example, that a significant portion of township and rural residents (53% of respondents in rural towns, 47% in large townships, and 39% in metro townships) earn an income of below R3 500 per month, with substantial
numbers falling below the poverty line, painting a picture of dire economic hardship faced by residents in these areas”.
Undeniably, unemployment coupled with the cost of living has not been favourable to the communities which had signed this objection. We refer to one of NERSA’s Regulatory Principle which states that “The energy regulator should endeavour to take decisions in the public interest as far as possible”. To this we submit, given situation facing households in the area we represent, that the increase as presented is clearly not in the interest of the community which survives below the poverty line.
We further refer to one of the Regulator’s Strategic Goals which is provided as “facilitation of affordability of and accessibility to the energy to balance economic interests of all stakeholders in support of socio-economic development of South Africa and a better life for all”. To this we submit that the increase is not geared towards supporting a better life for the community that signed the objection.
❖ Tariff increase and service delivery
The proposed increase on electricity tariffs follows a 2025 increase which was approved by Nersa. We note that it was not long after the approval that an error in calculation was lodged. The proposed increase come at a time when the residents of emaXhoseni section have been disconnected for a period fourty(40) days without electricity, with the disconnection affecting even those who were consistently paying for the service Eskom was providing.
The proposal comes at a time when the residents have been engaged with Eskom regarding the installation of split-meters whose intention is largely to minimise the negative impact to the entity’s infrastructure and minimise or avert any illegal connections being effected.
Except for the households already living in darkness, those not yet completely disconnected have had to contend with sporadic load reductions which means at certain times, almost the entire townships would find themselves in darkness thus contributing to increased crime and health risks particularly for the elderly living with chronic illness.
OUR CONCLUSION:
With Eskom having recorded a profit of R30.3 billion as recently announced, we believe that that Eskom is bound to experience more profit with the successful implementation of the split-meter installation project which is bound to positively affect its sales. We have been engaged with the communities with a view to ensuring a seamless roll-out of the project as we believe it is in the interests of the nation to have an entity capable of supply while remaining financially healthy.
In light of the back-to-back reports on profit made, we believe that the Eskom request for Nersa to increase electricity tariffs is informed by challenges faced by the SOC in relation to the nature of their network and the related inability to increase sales because of alleged illegal connections and fraudulent electricity tokens.
We also believe that the entity is in a position to employ other mechanisms, such as the split-meter project, to reduce damage to its infrastructure while recording the required sales as per the consumption recorded.
It is our strongest submission that the imposition of the electricity tariff increase will only exacerbate the already dire economic situation which is afflicting our community. It is our respectful submission that given the economic conditions prevailing, it would not be interests of the public to increase the tariffs and by extension, increase the burden of unaffordability on the part of the community.
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Petition created on 29 September 2026