The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) on Friday called for Eskom’s proposed electricity tariff increase to be put on hold for further consultation.
The process should be delayed to allow for urgent consultation on possible alternatives and the socio-economic impact of the increase, Nedlac said in a statement.
During Friday’s Nedlac management committee meeting, concerns were expressed by representatives of labour, business and community constituencies about the way in which the crisis was being managed.
These included the lack of urgency in following up the decisions of the joint presidential working group meeting held on February 29, the poor communication strategy that led to uncoordinated announcements and concerns about Eskom’s management of the crisis.
The various constituencies reaffirmed their commitment to working together to address the crisis.
Eskom’s application for a significant price increase had been accorded the highest priority for attention, Nedlac said.
”While accepting that there is a need for a review to the current approach to electricity tariffs, constituencies agreed that the process should be delayed for a limited period to allow for: urgent consultation on the need for, extent and structure of, and possible alternatives to tariff adjustments; the socio-economic impact of different options; and the phasing of any necessary tariff increases.”
Any rushed decision in this regard would have serious negative socio-economic consequences.
Nedlac had therefore initiated a process that would analyse the potential socio-economic impacts of the proposed price increase.
”Nedlac believes that it is imperative that sufficient time is allowed for stakeholders to prepare a considered response to the proposed increase, taking into account a range of issues.”
Constituencies had committed themselves to an urgent process, but believed the fast-tracked time frame recently announced by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) would not allow the necessary space for a proper consideration of all the issues.
”Nedlac is therefore urging that stakeholders are afforded the necessary time for response and that implementation of any proposal will be taken in consultation with stakeholders.”
It had been agreed that the Nedlac constituencies would hold a technical workshop to discuss the technical issues underpinning tariff determinations by Nersa.
”The basic message of Nedlac is that urgent and coordinated steps are imperative if the electricity crisis is to do minimum damage to the society and economy,” Nedlac said. — Sapa