---
title: "Nersa’s curse is how tight to hold the purse"
description: "Grinch of the Year runner-up the National Energy Regulator of South Africa must weigh up Eskom’s bottomless need against South Africans already struggling to stay afloat. Shame."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "GRINCH OF THE YEAR RUNNER-UP"
author: "Ethan van Diemen"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/ethan-van-diemen/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-12-24-nersas-curse-is-how-tight-to-hold-the-purse/"
published: "2024-12-24T14:23:12"
updated: "2024-12-26T14:17:12"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 237
---

# Nersa’s curse is how tight to hold the purse

> Grinch of the Year runner-up the National Energy Regulator of South Africa must weigh up Eskom’s bottomless need against South Africans already struggling to stay afloat. Shame.

By Ethan van Diemen · Published 24 December 2024, 16:23 SAST · Updated 26 December 2024, 16:17 SAST

## Key points
- As South Africans brace themselves for Eskom's proposed electricity price hike that feels more like a financial mugging, Nersa finds itself in the unenviable position of playing the villain in a tragicomic saga of economic despair.
- Cape Town residents express outrage over Eskom's proposed 40% electricity price hike, deeming it "unacceptable."
- Nersa faces backlash as it balances Eskom's financial needs with consumer protection amid rising living costs.
- Eskom's proposed increases over three years include 36.15% for 2025, followed by smaller hikes in subsequent years.
- Public hearings reveal widespread frustration, with many viewing Nersa as a villain in the ongoing energy crisis narrative.

## Content

‘Honestly, 40% is unacceptable,” said Cape Town resident Denise Human before a public hearing held by Nersa in November into Eskom’s proposed electricity price hike. She was reflecting a common view. Certainly, Daily Maverick voters share the sentiment, voting the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) one of the runners-up for 2024’s Grinch of the Year.

This dubious distinction reflects the bubbling frustration of a nation grappling with escalating electricity and other living costs amid a stagnant economy. And after suffering years of rolling blackouts, customers feel less than kindly towards Eskom, which has proposed a 66% revenue and price increase over three years: 36.15% for 2025, 11.81% for 2026 and 9.1% for 2027.

**Read more:**[‘Eskom, you are killing us’ — Gqeberha community members plead for halt to electricity tariff increases](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-11-20-eskom-you-are-killing-us-gqeberha-community-members-plead-for-halt-to-electricity-tariff-increases/)

Tasked with balancing the financial viability of Eskom and protecting consumers, Nersa occupies a thankless middle ground. In authorising significant price increases for electricity suppliers such as Eskom, the regulator appears – rightly or wrongly – as the villain in a larger narrative of economic hardship and strife.

**Read more:**[‘Bleeding us dry’ — Capetonians slam ‘unacceptable’ Eskom](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-11-18-capetonians-slam-unacceptable-eskom-hike-as-hearings-start/) tariff hike as public hearings start

Now at the tail end of a process of public engagement for the tariff increase that has been decried by some as a “corruption tax”, Nersa will have to decide whether to increase tariffs and by how much. **DM**