The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), which is in charge of setting power prices and tariffs for the country's state-run power utility Eskom, has finished the series of nationwide public hearings on the future electricity tariffs and granted Eskom allowable revenue of ZAR206bn (US$14bn) for the 2019-2020 period. This will translate into a power tariff increase of 9.41% starting from the beginning of April 2019, exclusive of the 4.41% hike already sanctioned in 2018. Eventually, Eskom is now allowed to increase tariffs to direct customers by 13.8% starting from 1 April 2019.
Eskom is trying to find solutions to cope with its financial difficulties. This decision is expected to improve the accountability of the company and make it more attractive to new investments. The government excluded privatisation plans and agreed to restructure the company into three separate entities with one specific segment each: power generation, transmission and distribution. This effort is also meant to isolate costs, give responsibility to each sector and allow the company to raise funding more easily from lenders.