Advert
Advert – scroll down
Displaying the 15 latest comments.
Submitted | first-name | support | concern | top-concern | message |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-05 13:14:13 +02:00 | Maurice | I support with amendments | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | Market should be open but Eskom must amend fixed charges to be relevant to services provided for grid infrastructur- similar to water. All consumers should be able to buy from other Power Producers (not just commercial entities). | |
2026-10-04 16:02:58 +02:00 | James | No I do not | All of the above | Captive Consumer Tariff Protection | |
2026-10-03 20:31:54 +02:00 | Wayne | No I do not | All of the above | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | |
2026-10-03 14:51:43 +02:00 | Patrick | No I do not | All of the above | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | |
2026-10-03 13:26:01 +02:00 | Lois | No I do not | All of the above | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | We've spent our lives paying taxes and service tariffs. Now we saved up and got a solar system because Eskom failed us. Why should we be penalised further? Eskom is so corrupt and ineffecient and we have had to deal with you constantly increasing your salaries and giving yourself bonuses you Do Not deserve. Get your house in order! Before you start taxing the little sun that shines on others. |
2026-10-03 06:43:52 +02:00 | Maria | No I do not | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | This current government is looting this country left right and centre. Eskom forced people to find alternatives due to load shedding. Now they are looking at other avenues to continue the looting. I most definitely do not support this. | |
2026-10-02 17:23:41 +02:00 | Keith | No I do not | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | 1) ESKOM should get their own house in order first and into the townships to get rid of illegal connections and once that's done (and on going) go after the technicians who are complicit in these illegal connections with goal time not fines. 2) ESKOM created the problem problem through lack of maintenance and terrible budget planning due to municipal inefficiencies which was never curtailed thereby forcing ratepayers to go solar (at huge costs) to themselves and now they are going to be punished for utilizing Gods gift to everyone... the SUN!!! What a load of ........!! It's time to replace the current Government!! (and yes I'm fuming). | |
2026-10-02 17:14:42 +02:00 | Gavin | No I do not | All of the above | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | South Africa needs a free and open market to get out of the hole it's in. We had failing infrastructure due to rampant corruption and mismanagement which lead to ongoing load-sheddings. Because of this, many businesses and residents turned to solar, to create stability for themselves where Eskom failed. Now you want to penalise and tax those same businesses and people who were able to make a plan and break free from the monopoly. The idea of a "sun tax" is preposterous. Electricity prices have increased at a ridiculous rate for households, not because electricity has gotten more expensive, but because corruption and multi-million rand bonuses are expensive. A free and open market would give this country a fast-track to affordable, sustainable electricity. |
2026-10-02 14:05:02 +02:00 | Myra | No I do not | Market Power & Price Manipulation | ||
2026-10-02 09:49:41 +02:00 | Michael | No I do not | All of the above | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | The mismanagement at Eskom has caused the problems. It was the number one utility in the world at the turn of the century. Making the general public and private enterprise fund amendments that could only lead to more concerns is wrong. However, if there is fair and open market participation whereby businesses can compete fairly and achieve reasonable returns to generate an economic and societal uplift in the power sector, then certain changes and restructuring is plausible provided enough public participation in the changes that do not end up penalizing tax payers and paying consumers. |
2026-10-02 07:42:28 +02:00 | Elizabeth | I support with amendments | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | ||
2026-10-01 20:27:09 +02:00 | Vasco | No I do not | All of the above | Captive Consumer Tariff Protection | |
2026-10-01 19:29:51 +02:00 | Anna | No I do not | All of the above | Market Power & Price Manipulation | With the petrol price going up, electricity and municipality charges going up but salaries and pension stays the same, it is almost impossible to cope financially |
2026-10-01 18:09:34 +02:00 | Ockert | No I do not | All of the above | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | I support opening the electricity sector to competition. Ending Eskom's single-buyer monopoly, separating the networks from generation and trading, and letting private generators compete are overdue and will help to end load-shedding for good. I support the paper only with the following amendments. 1. No penalty on solar. The "anti-free-riding" principle must not become a tax on households and small businesses that generate their own power. Network charges must reflect the actual, audited cost of the connection, be phased in and be capped. A move to "high, unavoidable fixed monthly connection fees" is not acceptable. 2. Protect captive customers. Residential and small business users will stay captive on municipal networks while large users above 1 MW get access to the competitive market. Captive customers must not end up paying for the system while large users get the savings. Set a dated path that lowers the eligibility threshold so households and small businesses can also choose their supplier. 3. A truly independent transmission operator. NTCSA must be fully independent of Eskom's generation business, with published rules for grid access and no preferential treatment. 4. Market power. NERSA needs the capacity and the power to monitor and penalise price manipulation in the wholesale market from day one. 5. Municipal finances. Municipalities that rely on electricity sales to fund other services should be required to ring-fence electricity revenue and publish it, rather than pushing the cost of their own financial problems onto consumers through the tariff. Competition, not higher fixed charges, should be how prices come down. |
2026-10-01 18:01:21 +02:00 | Luis | No I do not | Fixed Charges & Solar Penalties | Demand a binding, published transition roadmap that progressively lowers the eligibility threshold, ensuring retail market choice is expanded to ordinary households and SMMEs rather than remaining an exclusive corporate privilege. Require NERSA to implement mandatory tariff-parity benchmarks ensuring captive customer tariffs do not exceed wholesale-plus-efficient-delivery benchmark prices. Oppose any mechanism that uses captive household tariffs to recover stranded costs or uncompetitive legacy contract premiums. |
-
- Ending Monopolies and Unlocking Private Investment:
Decades of Eskom’s single-buyer monopoly led to catastrophic load shedding, debt bailouts, and stifled innovation. Establishing the South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM) allows private generators, renewable energy developers, and traders to compete directly, deploying private capital to build generation capacity without burdening national taxpayers. - Transparent Price Discovery and Long-Term Cost Reductions:
Open day-ahead and intra-day wholesale trading forces generators to bid at competitive, marginal costs. Over time, this market mechanism removes operational inefficiencies, penalises unreliable power stations, and drives down the baseline wholesale cost of electricity for the entire economy. - Fair System Cost Allocation (“Anti-Free Riding”):
The physical grid requires billions of Rands in fixed maintenance costs regardless of how much energy is consumed. Supporters argue that grid-tied rooftop solar owners still rely on the national grid for nighttime power and system stability. Shifting toward mandatory fixed capacity charges ensures that network costs are fairly shared across all connected users, rather than being disproportionately subsidised by poorer households without solar systems. - Level Playing Field via Network Unbundling:
Legally unbundling the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA) and forcing distribution companies to separate physical “wires” from electricity trading ensures non-discriminatory grid access for everyone. Independent power producers will finally compete on equal terms with Eskom Generation. - Professionalising Municipal Electricity Accounts:
Forcing municipalities to separate their retail trading businesses from network maintenance creates transparent accounting, prevents councils from diverting grid maintenance funds to cover unrelated administrative shortfalls, and establishes cost-reflective pricing models.
- Ending Monopolies and Unlocking Private Investment:
-
- A “Sun Tax” on Private Capital and Rooftop Solar:
Millions of households and businesses invested private savings into rooftop solar and batteries to keep their lights on when the state failed to do so. Replacing consumption-based billing with mandatory, high fixed monthly network charges penalises energy-conscious citizens, extends solar payback periods, and discourages private decarbonisation. - The “Captive Ratepayer Trap” and Municipal Insolvency:
Large industrial and commercial users exceeding demand thresholds (e.g., 1 MW) will be allowed to exit municipal supply to buy cheaper wholesale or private power. This strips municipalities of high-margin corporate revenue used to cross-subsidise indigent households and basic services, leaving captive residential ratepayers to shoulder skyrocketing local tariffs and degraded grid maintenance. - Wholesale Price Volatility and Market Power Manipulation:
Eskom Generation still controls the overwhelming majority of South Africa’s dispatchable baseload power. In unbundled spot markets worldwide, dominant suppliers have engaged in economic or physical withholding to artificially spike market clearing prices. Without hard statutory bid caps and aggressive oversight, wholesale price volatility will be passed directly down to retail consumers. - Severe Conflicts of Interest Within the NTCSA:
Consolidating transmission grid ownership (TNSP), system dispatch (SO), market clearing (MO), and legacy state off-take contracts (CPA) within a single entity under Eskom Holdings creates structural conflicts of interest. NTCSA could face internal commercial pressure to favour Eskom assets or delay third-party grid connections. - Premature Market Launch Amid Unresolved Municipal Debt:
Opening an advanced wholesale market with mandatory imbalance penalties in 2026/2027 while municipal distribution debt to Eskom remains unresolved is premature. Financially distressed municipalities that fail prudential credit requirements will be excluded from trading platforms, creating a divided nation of well-supplied metros and failing, power-starved rural councils.
- A “Sun Tax” on Private Capital and Rooftop Solar: