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Lance Greyling, the ID energy spokesperson has condemned Nersa's approved increase in the price of electricity for three consecutive years, saying the hikes ‘will cripple our economy, consumers and small businesses and have committed us to a coal-fired energy future South Africa and the world can ill-afford.

‘This is a resounding entrenchment of dirty coal-fired electricity and as a party that has campaigned for the development of a thriving renewable energy sector that could create hundreds of thousands of jobs for our people, the ID is reeling from shock,' Mr Greyling says.

‘To make matters worse, most of the billions in increases ordinary South Africans will be forking out for electricity will be going to a foreign company Hitachi and its local partner, the ANC front company Chancellor House.

‘This means that the ANC will be making money off poor and ordinary South Africans. It is simply shocking that Government did not simply cancel the construction of Kusile, the second coal-fired power station proposed by Eskom,' says Greyling.

The ID MP says the increases are also being implemented ‘in the absence of a proper Integrated Energy Plan for the country.

‘The legislation was passed two years ago, but in spite of this the Department of Energy has still not compiled a proper Integrated Energy Plan, which would be an assessment of precisely what type of an energy mix we should be striving for,' Greyling says.

‘Energy planning has therefore been left in the hands of Eskom, which obviously does not envisage a huge role for Independent Power Producers, or renewable energy sources.

‘NERSA had an opportunity to refuse to rubber-stamp this shoddy energy planning, but with the granting of these increases it has shown that it does not have the teeth to stand up to Eskom, or the Government,' says Greyling.

‘Unfortunately it is ordinary South Africans that suffer as large energy intensive users continue to benefit from confidential contracts that give them electricity at a fraction of the price we pay.

‘Given these huge increases, the ID calls upon municipalities around the country to exercise immense restraint in the mark-up that they place on their own electricity sales in future,' Greyling says.

‘We can no longer have a situation where so many municipalities derive most of their revenue from electricity sales. If municipalities implement similar mark-ups on their own electricity sales, over and above what NERSA has granted Eskom, this will cripple households and small businesses.'