Solidarity Threatens Legal Action If Nersa Approves Eskom’s R938 A Month Solar Power Tarrifs

The South African trade union Solidarity has threatened to take legal action against Eskom if the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) approves its R938 monthly tariff for solar power users.

Solidarity described the Eskom application submitted to NERSA as “absurd, irrational and unlawful,” stating that if accepted, it would oppose the proposal with all legal recourse at its disposal.

This comes after Eskom, in its latest application, requested that a tariff of R938 per month be levied on consumers who are generating power themselves.

According to Solidarity, South Africa’s only hope of getting out of the power crisis lies in small-scale power generation that is taking place on a large scale.

The union said it believes that it is through proposals such as this one that Eskom is turning itself from being an obstacle to power security into being a threat to it.

“It is one thing if Eskom does not want to contribute towards solving South Africa’s power crisis. However, by making proposals such as this, Eskom is changing from being a millstone around the neck to being an enemy of reliable power supply. If Eskom does not want to be involved in solutions itself we will litigate until at least Eskom no longer stands in the way of others who want to solve the matter,” Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann explained.

Solidarity argues that, right now, the country should go out of its way to encourage and facilitate private power generation, while Eskom’s tariff proposal only exacerbates the situation.

“Instead of encouraging private power generation, Eskom now wants to tax it. Paying tax for a service is one thing; to pay taxes for no service is something totally different. Eskom now indeed wants to tax South Africans who are starting to provide their own services as a result of Eskom’s inability to supply power. Simply by tabling such a proposal creates huge uncertainty. The proposal should be eliminated as soon as possible,” Hermann said.