Eskom’s application for a 25.3% increase currently being decided upon by the Energy Regulator NERSA comes at a time when the majority of working class households are struggling to put food on the table. In April 2015, the cost of the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA) food basket was R1629.04. This is 41% or R1 138.32 less than the R2 767.36 required to secure a basket of food to meet a basic level of nutrition for health and well-being for a family of five. Between January 2015 and April 2015, the price of a 25kg bag of maize meal, the staple food for the majority of South Africans, increased by 11.05% to R164.16. In PACSA’s April Food Price Barometer we argue that a 25.3% increase in electricity tariffs will have a devastating impact on South African households and our future trajectory as a nation. Eskom’s excessive price hikes in electricity tariffs have long ago breached our ability to pay. The 25.3% increase will be our tipping point. Because the implications of the decision before NERSA are so far reaching and so dire, we argue that the decision cannot rest with NERSA alone. It should be made by us, citizens of South Africa, as it is us who will face its effects most directly, it is our families who will be harmed and it is our future that is at stake. PACSA therefore calls on all citizens to mobilise against it.