Eskom, South Africa's national power utility, is seeking a 16% increase in average electricity prices until 2018. The company aims to raise electricity tariffs by 16%/year between 2013 and 2018, including a 3%/year increase to support independent power producers. This would raise the nominal price level from ZAR 0.61/kWh ($6.95c/kWh) in 2012-2013 to ZAR 1.28/kWh ($14.59c/kWh) by 2017-2018. The effective tariff increase will be determined by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).
Besides, the group plans to invest ZAR 149bn ($17bn) in the expansion of its transmission network by 2022. More than 80% of this amount will be directed to improve the reliability of the network and 16% to the integration of new power projects. The transmission division expects to add some 12 700 km of new transmission lines, which would be almost equivalent to adding 50% to the existing 28 000 km network. It is expected that 8 631 km of new 400 kV capacity will be installed by 2022, with the balance being 3 700 km of 765 kV lines and 402 km of 275 kV lines.