Cape Town’s city council is currently asking for a larger hike in tariffs, blaming renewable energy is hurting the city’s pockets.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) have given a guideline as to tariff increases (7.39%), but municipal applications that exceed the Nersa specifications must be approved. Cape Town has applied for an increase of 7.63% saying that the city was forced to pay more for electricity to compensate for the decreased sales as many customers switch to renewables.
Nersa regulator Thembani Bukula asked why the city wasn’t instead looking at other cost-cutting methods to reduce expenditures rather than turning to tariff hikes. Cape Town director of electrical services Leslie Recontre said that while the city was actively looking into cost-reduction methods, electricity revenue has seen a sharp decline as capital charges have increased in addition to power utility Eskom’s connection fees.
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