Eskom has welcomed the High Court in Pretoria’s ruling against the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, paving the way for the utility to recover R27 billion from consumers.

The court set aside Nersa’s tariff decision and granted Eskom leave to apply to Nersa for additional expenses incurred in the 2018/19 financial year.

The cash-strapped power utility had argued that Nersa’s tariff decisions were one of the major reasons why it was in a financial crisis.

Eskom’s General Manager for Regulations, Hasha Tlhotlhalemaje says this is the first step to ensure that Eskom is no longer a burden to the fiscus.

“It means that consumers will now not be continuing to be subsidised by taxpayer and over time it will not happen likely in the following year. Maybe there will be an adjustment to the tariff so that consumers will be paying the efficient cost of what it takes to produce electricity. At the moment they’re continuously being subsidised by the fiscus.”

Source: SABCNews