The high court has sided with Eskom in a dispute over the amounts energy regulator Nersa allowed the state utility to claw back from customers for electricity supplied in the 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 financial years.
Nersa’s 2018 decisions to allow Eskom to recoup R32.7-billion via a mechanism known as the regulatory clearing account (RCA) for those three years have been set aside, and it must now come up with new decisions.
Monday’s ruling could lead to higher power tariffs, as the court said it appeared Nersa had disallowed Eskom money for lower-than-forecast revenue based on a “fundamental factual error”.
The RCA mechanism is designed to account for differences between Eskom’s forecast revenue and costs when it applies to Nersa for power tariffs and the actual revenue and costs it subsequently reports.
Nersa withdraws
Eskom had sought R66.6-billion in RCA balances for 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 and said in court papers that Nersa had disallowed it amounts for lower-than-forecast revenue, coal costs, independent power producer costs and capital expenditure when it should not have.
