Eish

It always perturbs me when I feel that I am being taken advantage of. Eskom has just increased its tariffs by 25%, which is equal to about 20cents per kilowatt excluding the municipal fee. We don’t like to pay more as SA citizens; the feeling of entitlement does not help matters either. We are told that SA power is cheap, but compared to who is always my problem. First the recipients of this power are mostly poor. Why do we compare ourselves to the first world? On what bases? Is Eskom paying its employees equivalent of what the First world is paying their employees? No. Does South African have as much disposable income like poor US citizens? No
Let stop comparing apples with bananas, maybe things are not that simple then give us a bigger picture.

Despite all this most South Africans have accepted that they can’t do otherwise if our power is so cheap. Then Eskom through that at our faces by making secret deal with companies that consume 76% of all the power that Eskom generates.  What is more disturbing is that despite the fact that Eskom concedes that our power is cheap how eve they give big companies fro free. Are they expecting us to understand that? What must I think when Eskom extort 80c per kilowatt from me and take as little as 9c from a multinationals.

Eskom generates power at the cost of 27c per kilowatt which is not cheap, but go on to sell it at a loss which is a 17c per kilowatt to some selected companies. BHP Billiton is alleged to pay only 9c per kilowatt talk about the sweet deal or Mandela’s Sunset cause legacy. If they are so in debt that they can’t even build one new power station why are they selling at a loss boggles ones mind. Eskom is a parastatal, therefore unlike the power station id the US my tax money keeps it afloat, but after bailing it out with my Tax they still want more.

I think Eskom in the wake of this scandal should revise its secret deals and put the country first. At least these companies can afford to pay the minimum of a production cost at least can’t they?
The rolling 25% should be revisited and be reduced by at least 5-10% per year.
For now we will take 25 % on our chins