From Bloomberg
South African power prices will rise more than first planned from April to help the state-owned utility recover $693 million of unbudgeted costs, the regulator said.
Electricity tariffs will increase by an average 13 percent, more than the 8 percent initially approved for the year through March 31, 2016, the Pretoria-based National Energy Regulator of South Africa said in an e-mailed statement today.
The regulator in July found costs for Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. exceeded projections in the three years through 2013, paving the way for higher tariffs. The company had applied to recover 18.4 billion rand. The inflation rate was 6.4 percent in August.
“We are getting less-reliable electricity for higher and higher prices, when we should be going in the opposite direction,” Mike Schussler, chief economist at research group Economists.co.za., said by phone from Johannesburg. “It’s becoming a major problem. We are becoming uncompetitive.”
Written /Read more at Bloomberg
