It is finally 2021 and everyone is eager to put 2020 behind them. New Year’s messages were full of hope and good wishes for the coming year. Yet, the year started on a negative note. January began with worse Covid figures than ever before and there were rumours of stricter lockdowns.

Then came the news that Koeberg Unit 1 had to be shut down earlier than planned for maintenance and that Stage 2 loadshedding was being sheduled. In all, an underwhelming start to 2021.

Of course, a new year also means tariff changes for many service providers, including Eskom.  So will Eskom’s new tariffs, which are proposed to be implemented from 1 April 2021, follow the negative theme? Are there some positives in the proposed tariffs?

South Africa’s power company has detailed their tariff restructuring plan on their website and some interesting details emerge.

A CHANGE IN MINDSET?

According to Eskom’s retail tariff plan, this year’s proposed changes are being based on a cost-to-supply (or cost-to-serve) study for the first time since 2012. Apparently, the driving factors behind the study are the changes in technology, customer needs, the planned unbundling of Eskom into separate divisions, and the fact that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) has requested that tariffs be based on the cost to supply (CTS).

Eskom claims that the proposed tariffs and changes to pricing structure are based on this study. The tariff plan also states that the aim is to simplify and modernise the system.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR CHANGES? Read more at: https://insideenergy.africa/2021/02/01/eskom-tariffs-2021/