AfriForum halts Eskom-Nersa settlement agreement

The R54bn settlement agreement between Eskom and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has been temporarily halted. AfriForum is disputing the deal and argued that there was not enough public engagement in the decision-making process.

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Delusion of transparency

SABC News reports that the deal came after an error at Nersa, which affected the calculations of Eskom’s revenue clawback amounts.

This led to Nersa agreeing that Eskom could recover the additional R54bn by pushing increases from the originally approved hikes for 2026 and 2027 to 8.76% and 8.83% for those years.

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According to BusinessTech, Eskom believes that the settlement did not require public engagement.

AfriForum's Morne Mostert told SABC News that “...the fact that they did not tell anyone, and it’s only the media that found out about the previous settlements that were made. Because of this, we think that there is a delusion of transparency.”

Mostert added that AfriForum sought to intervene to determine the actual reasons for the change in the amount.