Cost-reflective tariffs

Municipalities in South Africa’s three tier government have never quite reached the level of envisioned in the constitution. Inequalities and mismanagement still run rampant and are not in-line with their goal of making services (water, electricity and refuse) accessible and affordable.  

Municipal funding in South Africa is in dire straits. Theo Covary looks at the historical landscape that led to this crisis and that remain relevant as municipalities grapple with service delivery failures.

The Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) is to implement an 'Incentive Framework' for large electricity consumers using high security prepaid meters,

Given that municipalities should essentially operate like any business that sells services and products, attracting new business, while stemming the exodus of existing business, should be one of the main goals that municipalities pursue.

The latest court battle between NERSA and Eskom, which holds the energy monopoly, will see power tariffs increase from 116.72c/kWh to 128.24c/kWh in 2021.

Ikeja Electric's chairman has revealed that by June this year the government and discos will sign a performance improvement plan for the supply of energy.

Ikeja Electric has signed an agreement with Omole Phase 1 Estate, to provide reliable services to customers under the Willing Seller, Willing Buyer policy.

Auction programmes are now officially the preferred procurement method for contracting renewable energy capacity globally, and are set to grow in prominence. There is thus an important need to learn from and distil current experiences...

Cost-reflective tariffs are an on-going, much talked about topic but why do they continue to be problematic and what are the possible solutions? Daniel Njoroge Butti, energy economist lecturer at Karatina University, a public university in Kenya, explores this trending topic.