Nersa gives Eskom green light to recover R6bn in revenue

Thursday’s decision by Nersa follows several court rulings last year which set aside several of its earlier decisions.

The recovery of the lost revenue could result in a tariff increase of 10.95% over a year or 9,53% over two years.

The regulator said the timeframe over which Eskom would recover the additional income had not yet been decided.

The decision comes after Eskom took the regulator to court to dispute its decision to only award it RCA balances of R32.69 billion for those three financial years, compared to the R66.6 billion it had sought.

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The court ruled in favour of Eskom, saying Nersa disallowed Eskom money for lower-than-forecast revenue based on a “fundamental factual error”.

Nersa conceded that it miscalculated and conducting the due regulatory process, which included publishing Eskom’s applications.

"It is a consequence of a court order that reviewed and set aside the decision of the Energy Regulator on these RCAs," the regulator said in a statement. 

"In the processing of these three RCAs, Nersa took into account the effect of the decision, which was already taken and implemented, on the applications, as this is not a new application."

The tariff hikes - once decided on how the money will be repaid - will come into effect on April 1st.