News24 reports that the person who made the R54-billion mistake in calculating Eskom’s electricity price increase has been suspended, the chairperson of the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa), Thembani Bukula, told MPs at a meeting of the Electricity and Energy Portfolio Committee on Wednesday.
Bukula offered Nersa’s profound apologies for undercalculating what Eskom would be allowed to recover from customers for three years beginning 2025/26 by R54 billion. Consequently, Eskom will be allowed to recover this from customers by adding to tariff increases in the coming years. Nersa determines the electricity tariff increase according to the Multi-Year Price Determination (MYPD) methodology that allows Eskom to recover its costs, provided these have been prudently incurred, and earn a return on its regulatory asset base.
Bukula explained to MPs that the error had occurred when calculating the return on assets for Eskom’s generation plant for the years 2026/27 and 2027/28. Nersa had identified the error immediately, before the tariff increase was announced in January and a staff member had been instructed to make a correction. It was assumed that this had been done. Then Nersa became aware that the correction as requested had not been made. Nersa has commissioned an independent audit into what went wrong, which, Bukula said, would be made public. Bukula, who was quizzed by MPs over its processes and whether it had adequate checks and balances, said: “As much as we thought our processes are robust, they failed us.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton at News24 (subscription / trial registration required)
- Read too, A R54bn error draws apology from Nersa, at Moneyweb
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