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12 February 2026
Nersa Miscalculation and Eskom Tariff Increases
groundWork expresses deep concern and outrage that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) ‘redetermination’ of Eskom’s allowable revenues adds to an already unsustainable hike in electricity tariffs. This follows from Nersa’s admission that it got its sums wrong when it made its original decision. The new decision benefits Eskom but places an unbearable burden on already struggling households, workers, and small businesses across South Africa.
Tariffs are now set to rise by 8.76% in 2026 and a further 8.83% in 2027. These increases come in the context of acknowledged regulatory mistakes amounting to tens of billions of rand in revenue adjustments linked to Eskom’s allowable income.
For communities living in energy poverty, these decisions are not technical accounting adjustments, they are in fact decisions about whether households can afford food, transport, or electricity. groundWork and other civil society organisations have repeatedly warned that ordinary people should not be forced to pay for regulatory or institutional failures, particularly in a context of deep inequality and rising cost of living pressures.
The core issue is not only the tariff increase itself, but what it reveals about the state of energy governance in South Africa. When a regulator mandated to protect the public interest makes errors of this magnitude, public confidence is fundamentally undermined. Such failures raise serious questions about internal controls, quality assurance, and accountability within the regulatory system. Moreover, Nersa attempted to avoid public scrutiny of its error.
groundWork is particularly concerned that communities are being asked to absorb the financial consequences of systemic governance failures across the energy sector. Energy pricing decisions must balance utility sustainability with affordability, social justice and environmental obligations. Yet current outcomes suggest a system that socialises risk onto the public while protecting institutional and corporate interests. Electricity is not a luxury good, it is a public good essential for dignity, health, education, and economic survival. At a time when climate impacts are intensifying and inequality is deepening, escalating electricity costs risk driving millions of people into deeper poverty, while undermining the just transition South Africa has committed to.
groundWork therefore calls for:
- A fully participatory national review of electricity pricing policy and how national and local power systems should be funded.
The review must be framed by the imperative for a just transition in the context of the crises of climate change, local pollution and health impacts in the coal districts, and high unemployment. And it must put the purpose of serving people first.
In addition we call for:
- Full transparency and public accountability
Nersa must release detailed explanations of the miscalculations, corrective methodologies, and decision-making processes that led to these outcomes.
- Independent review of regulatory governance
An independent investigation is required into Nersa’s internal controls, technical capacity, and oversight mechanisms.
- Protection of low-income households
Immediate expansion of free basic electricity, lifeline tariffs, and targeted protections for vulnerable communities.
- Public-interest centred tariff setting
Tariff decisions must prioritise affordability, energy access, and constitutional socio-economic rights.
Nersa has a constitutional and legislative duty to regulate in the public interest. That duty cannot be met if the cost of regulatory failures is transferred to the public. South Africans should not be forced to choose between electricity and survival because of governance failures they did not create. groundWork stands with communities, labour, and civil society in demanding an energy system that is transparent, accountable, affordable, and aligned with climate justice (principles) and a just transition.
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