The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) is finishing new rules to stop electricity resellers from charging people in complexes too much.
Under the plan, resellers will have to register formally with the regulator. NERSA said the rules aim to make sure their tariffs follow the Electricity Regulation Act (ERA).
Welile Mkhize, NERSA head of electricity licensing and compliance, explained the plan during an EE Business Intelligence webinar on electricity tariffs, MyBroadband reported.
Mkhize said the regulator was dealing with a large rise in price disputes between consumers and “so-called resellers”.
These resellers include private metering operators, landlords and property administrators in residential complexes and sectional title schemes. Mkhize accused them of excessive pricing.
He said the procedure and registration rules were already in motion and were waiting for final approval. NERSA will publish an official statement with more details on the new rules.
The ERA already bans resellers from charging end users more than they pay Eskom or their municipality for power.
However, according to MyBroadband, these distributors often charge high fixed monthly capacity fees. They also often base energy tariffs on the time of day the power is used.
In some cases, the tariffs do not match what people inside the scheme actually pay. This creates a gap between the bulk costs of the property and what is recovered from residents.
The problem came up in a court case brought by the Electricity Resellers Association of South Africa (ERASA) against NERSA and the City of Ekurhuleni.
The case showed that bulk charges in Ekurhuleni forced resellers and body corporates to run at a loss. The only way out was an unapproved premium of about 23% on tariffs.
ERASA has also complained that Eskom’s retail tariff plan (RTP) pushed up electricity bills for people living in complexes sharply.
Units in complexes are usually much smaller than freestanding homes. They house fewer people, who use less electricity.
ERASA national chairperson Johan Hopley said these users usually consume around 400kWh a month. This is much lower than the Eskom average for residential customers.
The RTP is in the second year of a three-year transition. Under it, Eskom has moved much of its cost recovery away from energy use charges. More of it now comes from fixed connection and capacity charges.
According to MyBroadband, this has raised bills far more for people who use low to moderate amounts of power. Heavy users have seen smaller increases.
During the webinar, Mkhize also said NERSA was moving toward unbundled fixed tariffs that cannot be bypassed. He said this was to stop people leaving the grid and to prevent unfair cost shifting, in line with Eskom.
AfriForum has warned that fixed tariffs could have the opposite effect. As the cost of staying connected rises, households that can afford it may choose to go fully off the grid.
MyBroadband said it tested an off-grid setup with solar panels, batteries and a backup generator. It found that, financed over seven years at 20% interest, the system would cost about the same as using only Eskom power.
Source: this article is based on reporting by MyBroadband. Image: MyBroadband. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.