Dear Editor
A damning new report confirms the extent to which ANC’s failed electricity policy is taxing South Africans into poverty to safeguard Eskom’s monopoly. This is why the DA is fighting for reforms that will turbocharge the economy by ensuring prices that are fair while keeping the lights on.
The Competition Commission’s devastating new Cost of Living Report (based on StatsSA consumer price index data) reveals that since 2020, electricity prices have surged by a catastrophic 68%, more than double the rate of headline inflation.
These are not just numbers; they represent the daily pain of families who, as the Minister of Electricity himself has admitted, are being forced to choose between buying food and keeping the lights on.
This is not an accident; it is the inevitable result of a broken, rigged system. Just last week, we exposed how the captured regulator, NERSA, handed Eskom a R54 billion blank cheque after “bungling” its own calculations. Now, this report quantifies the brutal, long-term impact of this kind of regulatory failure. The runaway electricity costs are structurally driving up the price of everything, including water, which has surged by 50% over the same period, partly because electricity makes up 15% of its cost.
The DA will not stand by while South Africans are punished for the government’s incompetence. This report makes it clear that the entire electricity pricing framework is fundamentally broken and anti-poor.
The DA therefore reiterates our urgent demand for the Minister of Electricity to immediately finalise the full-scale, independent review of South Africa’s outdated Electricity Pricing Policy. The current policy has failed to protect consumers and has instead enabled Eskom’s monopoly to extract punishing, above-inflation increases year after year.
Our call to action is clear:
- A New Pricing Policy: We demand a new electricity pricing policy that prioritises affordability for consumers, promotes efficiency, and ends the perverse incentive structure that rewards Eskom for failure.
- End the Monopoly: The report heaps pressure on the President to accelerate the unbundling of ESKOM. We demand he goes further by establishing a truly independent grid operator to create a competitive market that will drive prices down.
- Parliamentary Accountability: We will use this damning report as further evidence in the upcoming parliamentary hearing on NERSA’s R54 billion bungle, to demand that those responsible for failing to protect consumers are held accountable.
The evidence is now overwhelming. The ANC’s state-controlled electricity model is a direct assault on the cost of living. The DA will continue to fight for the fundamental reforms that will break this monopoly, lower prices, and ensure that access to electricity is a tool for empowerment, not a tax on the poor.
Regards
Kevin Mileham MP
DA Spokesperson for Electricity and Energy