Load shedding News – DA reacts to 60 percent tariff hike proposal

The Democratic Alliance last Wednesday renewed its call for an independent inquiry into Eskom, in the wake of the announcement of Eskom’s call for a 60% nominal tariff hike last week.

“The DA shares the public’s outrage over revelations that Eskom has requested a 60 percent hike in electricity tariffs,” the party’s public enterprises spokesperson Manie van Dyk said.

“Industry and the greater public, already struggling with rising fuel and food prices amid mounting inflation, are now faced with the possibility of this massive hike in electricity prices.”

“It is seven times higher than inflation and will put upward pressure on both inflation and interest rates.”

History of the energy crisis

Earlier this month, we pointed out that the Government had plenty of warning about the looming energy crisis, and that the DA had repeatedly raised the issue in Parliament over the last few years.

For further insight into the history of the energy crisis, Politicsweb also posted an excellent feature earlier this month, entitled “Eskom: The real cause for the crisis.” It provides a blow-by-blow account of the policies that led to the crisis.

Also worth a perusal, is News24’s Power Crisis Timeline.

Helen Zille responds to an open letter on the energy crisis

Paul Jacobson wrote an open letter to DA Leader Helen Zille about the energy crisis on Wired Gecko last Friday. While he has had feedback from her office on the matter already, we thought Shedding Light would be the ideal platform from which to respond publicly.

Dear Paul

Thank you for the constructive suggestions towards solving the energy crisis. At this time, public discussion and creative solutions are much needed and appreciated.

Rest assured, the Democratic Alliance is doing all that is possible to provide solutions to alleviate the burden imposed on all South Africans by the crisis. To this end, we have presented to government a comprehensive plan that proposes short, medium and long term solutions, centred on three key areas: diversifying South Africa’s energy resources, reducing consumption and improving Eskom’s performance.