New Eskom penalty price

By Ilhaam Hoosain
17 March 2008

From the 1st of May, South African consumers are in for new electricity penalties when government implements its plans which to allegedly penalise wealthier and heavier domestic users of power who fail to comply with energy savings warnings.

It has also been alleged that Eskom will target its customers in the upper income bracket - people living in wealthier suburbs with homes that have good quality lighting, a geyser, under floor heating, electrical gadgets and a swimming pool.

Cosatu’s Patrick Craven responded to the alleged penalties saying that less fortunate people will also need to play their part in saving electricity.

Domestic dwellers in comfortable suburbs will be asked to cut their energy consumption by 10 percent or pay a penalty which will be measured daily.

“We fully accept that we have to find ways to save electricity, given the crisis. We are particularly concerned that this must be done in a fair way and we (are) concerned that poor consumers, some that have only recently been connected to electricity may be the worst hit by any attempt to increase the tariffs,” says Craven.

He adds that South Africans must make sure minimum requirements that every household needs are guaranteed and that no one should lose out.

Presently customers are paying 40 cents a kilowatt hour (kWh) for energy but its been reported that when the new tariff structure gets implemented, heavy users would pay as much as R1,50 per kWh during peak periods. The recent price penalty shock comes after Eskom got the go ahead by government to raise its tariffs by 14, 2 percent this year.

“Cosatu still feels that the bulk of the cost of the crisis should be borne by the business sector because they are by far the biggest users of electricity,” says Craven.

He goes on to say that they are not saying households don’t have a role to play, as he thinks it will be unrealistic to expect householders (who use very small amounts of electricity anyway) to make major savings.

Electricity levy announced by the Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel will also be accepted by consumers to raise funds for Eskom's expansion programme.