Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) said the government’s revised Electricity Pricing Policy offers no clear path to lower tariffs. The warning came in its Reform Tracker for the third quarter of 2026.
BLSA said electricity prices have risen by 900% since 2007. It said that is as much as five times above inflation over the same period.
“The policy will need to be enhanced, and the public consultation requires meaningful engagement to shape the policy into one that is fit for purpose,” BLSA said.
The revised policy was gazetted in August 2026. BLSA said it aims to ensure cost-reflectivity, affordability and transparency. But the group said it gives no implementation framework to reach those goals.
“In fact, much of this work is deferred to Nersa to develop appropriate regulations,” BLSA said.
BLSA said the policy upholds the principle of affordability. However, it said the policy is silent on how to reach a credible path to lower tariffs.
The group also gave the policy some credit. “It modernises the 2008 policy with a shift in focus to a multi-market model with competition in the electricity sector,” BLSA said.
BLSA said the policy is essential to guide tariff reform. South Africa’s electricity sector is moving to an unbundled, competitive, multi-market structure.
EE Business Intelligence managing director Chris Yelland said in a Newsday interview that electricity has become unaffordable for millions of South African households and businesses.
“There are businesses that have had to forgo growth and even close down because the price of electricity has made these businesses uncompetitive,” Yelland said.
Daily Investor reported that some local businesses have invested in alternative energy such as rooftop solar to cut costs. It said this has cost Eskom some of its biggest customers. That puts more pressure on the utility’s revenue and pushes prices even higher, the publication said.
Yelland also blamed inefficiency and poor management at Eskom. He said inefficiently incurred costs and losses through theft and non-payment were not normal costs for a business.
“They are the result of a poorly managed business and the job of the regulator is only to pass through efficiently and prudently incurred costs,” he said.
“The regulator has to start putting its foot down and not allowing these costs to be passed through to the customer,” Yelland said.
BLSA’s Reform Tracker monitors the government’s progress on reforms across different parts of the economy. Its electricity reform index rose 2.4% in the third quarter, from 67.8 to 69.4 index points.
BLSA said the rise came from progress in three areas. These were consensus on an independent Transmission System Operator, the revised pricing policy and the electricity market transformation position paper.
“The TSO independence confirms a policy decision that now shifts to implementation, while the other two are still in the early stages of defining policy,” BLSA said.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Daily Investor. Image: Daily Investor. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.