The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza requesting that Parliament hold a debate on the rapidly rising cost of electricity, which it said is becoming increasingly unaffordable for many South African households.

DA spokesperson on Electricity and Energy Kevin Mileham stated that electricity tariffs had reached “crisis levels” and warned of a “real risk” that South African households could become trapped in a permanent high cost of living environment owing to high electricity prices.

“The decision by National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to grant Eskom’s application to retrospectively recover R8-billion through its Regulatory Clearing Account for the 2021/22 financial year, which will translate to a 4% tariff increase in 2025, and Eskom’s application for a further 36.15% tariff increase in 2025, will effectively price many households out of the electricity market and increase energy poverty to levels not seen since the dawn of democracy,” said Mileham.

He said while the recent announcement by the Ministry of Energy and Electricity to review the electricity pricing model was welcome, government needed to move with urgency.

“The Eskom monopoly has become inefficient, and the cost of that inefficiency is now being passed on to consumers. It does not help that the current electricity pricing policy is more biased towards setting tariffs that reward Eskom inefficiency while failing to balance this with consumer affordability,” Mileham said.

Mileham highlighted that according to the South Africa Reserve Bank, between 2007 and 2022, the average Eskom tariff increased by 450% while inflation increased by only 129% over the same period.

He said this meant that electricity tariffs have quadrupled in real money terms in 14 years.

He said loadshedding was a “financial nightmare” for many South Africans, noting that the double digit tariff increases that had been granted to Eskom over the past years had placed pressure on citizens to choose between food and electricity.

“No one should be forced to make this choice, especially considering that many food poverty levels at household level are still high due to high prices,” he said.