Durban — The uMngeni Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal has rejected the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) tariff increase.
Mayor Chris Pappas said: “On behalf of the residents and businesses of the uMngeni Municipality I, mayor Chris Pappas categorically reject Nersa’s uncaring and unsympathetic announcement of an 18.65% tariff increase. The initial increase request was set at an unbelievable 32%. Although the approved increase is less than the initial request, I still am vehemently opposed to it.”
Pappas said the failures of the national government and Eskom were now being passed on to the hard-working men and women of South Africa.
“We cannot remain silent as the sphere of local government, which has been empowered to advance the best interests of the local communities. This decision by Nersa and Eskom, and endorsed by President Ramaphosa, shows a complete lack of understanding of the difficulties that South Africans are currently facing.”
He said many small businesses were not coping under the stage 6 blackouts. With this and the tariff increase, they will be forced to close their doors or shed jobs to save costs: further increasing the levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
“As the municipality, we are already burdened with high incidents of theft due to the rate of poverty, high losses due to theft and vandalism of infrastructure due to the collapse of the SAPS, and the increasing costs of maintenance of infrastructure due (to) the effects of the blackouts. These increases will only intensify the problems that local government already face,” Pappas said.
He said last week they visited the Mlotshwa family in Karkloof. This family used all their savings to build a home over many years. Due to load shedding and the damage caused to electrical equipment, the house was engulfed by fire. This family lost everything. This story is one that many people in uMngeni have experienced. Losing food, appliances and now even their homes.
“The uMngeni Municipality has worked hard to reduce the effects of load shedding by introducing solar street lights and solar energy packages in informal settlements. Soon we will also introduce load shedding-proof traffic lights. We are now moving to establish a team that will be tasked with addressing the energy crisis locally. We will use all legislative powers to protect our residents and businesses from the failures that are being passed on to ordinary citizens,” Pappas said.
He said the uMngeni Municipality joined the many municipalities around the country opposing this increase.
Pappas also sent a letter to Nersa, objecting to its increase and calling on Eskom not to proceed with the 18.65% increase in its electricity tariffs.
In the letter, Pappas said on behalf of all residents and businesses, he raised an objection to the Nersa-approved 18.65% increase for the 2023/2024 financial year.
The letter read that many citizens were struggling to make ends meet and the residents and business community of uMngeni could not afford the steep increases as many lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic and economic slowdown.
“uMngeni Local Municipality is up to date with its Eskom account, and while we appreciate the efforts of the current Eskom CEO, Mr De Ruyter in the turnaround at Eskom, it is however unfair to expect municipalities to be held responsible for inefficiencies caused by bad practices.
“We, therefore, request that the increase should not be higher than the inflation rate of 7.4%. Your co-operation in this regard will be appreciated,” the letter read.
Daily News