NERSA concerned over participation
The National Energy Regulator (NERSA) said it was concerned over the lack of participation in the public hearings over the proposed Eskom tariff increases.
The Gauteng round of the public hearing kicked off in Midrand on Thursday.
According to NERSA's spokesperson, Charles Hlebela, it has been mainly corporate entities and NGO's who have presented their views.
"Not many members of the general public are presenting at these public hearings. It is a concern we have noted, but we are not sure what lead to members of the public not participating in this process," he said.
NERSA had to cancel their public hearings in the Free State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo due to no interested parties registering to present at the hearings.
These rounds of hearing come after Eskom applied for a Regulatory Clearing Account balance of R22.8 billion for the first year of the Third Multi-Year Price Determination period.
AfriBusiness was one of the organisations at the Gauteng hearing to argue against Eskom's proposed 16.6 percent tariff increase.
Armand Greyling of Agribusiness said the agricultural industry will be in a dire state as investors would flee South Africa, if Eskom is granted this tariff increase.
"We feel that Eskom didn't abide by NERSA's internal rules by submitting its application late and also placing an unnecessary burden for loss of income from Eskom's side, when in fact they actually requested their consumers not to use their product and now, because South Africans actually adhered to this rule, now they have to fork out an extra bill because Eskom has a shortfall in their revenue," Greyling said.
(Edited by Suné du Toit)