Despite State-owned utility Eskom’s disciplined maintenance execution “beginning to bear fruit”, chief executive officer Brian Molefe says the power supplier awaits certainty from the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) on the tariffs it can charge to build long-term generation capacity.
Eskom is battling to fill a revenue shortfall of R225 billion rand for the five years through 2018, which has resulted in Nersa granting it half of the annual average tariff increase of 16%.
“Our idea is to go back to the authorities, to the regulator next year, and find a way that will give us – as South Africa – certainty of tariffs, maybe over a 10-year period,” Molefe told Bloomberg, adding “we will try and fit into those tariffs and those revenue lines to keep the business liquid.”
