Nersa grants Eskom smaller tariffs than sought

South Africa’s energy regulator Nersa on Thursday granted struggling state power firm Eskom average power price increases of 9.41 percent, 8.10 percent and 5.22 percent over the next three financial years, far below what Eskom had asked for.

Nersa also allowed Eskom to recover R3.869 billion ($270 million) from its customers for electricity supplied in the 2017/18 financial year, significantly below the R21.6 billion than Eskom had applied for.

Cash-strapped Eskom is struggling to emerge from a financial crisis. It wanted power price increases of 17.1% in 2019/20, 15.4% in 2020/21 and 15.5% in 2021/22.