The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) condemns in the strongest possible terms the latest decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to increase electricity tariffs yet again to compensate for regulatory failures linked to the Eskom settlement. Workers are being forced to pay for mistakes they did not make. At a time of mass unemployment, stagnant wages, rising food prices, and an unsustainable cost of living, these tariff hikes amount to nothing less than a direct assault on the working class. There are no so-called “green shoots” for ordinary people, only deepening poverty.
NERSA has now approved increases of 12.7% for 2025/26, 8.76% for 2026/27, and 8.83% for 2027/28, nearly a 30% cumulative increase in just three years. Such steep increases come in an economy where wages remain suppressed, and household incomes are under severe strain. The regulatory decision once again shifts the burden of systemic failures onto workers and the poor.
Electricity Prices Have Exploded for Two Decades
This is a structural crisis: Independent energy analysts have shown that electricity tariffs have increased by more than 520% since 2007, with some estimates placing the increase as high as 653% between 2007 and 2022. In practical terms, electricity now costs six to seven times more than it did fifteen years ago. No worker’s wage has increased anywhere near 600%. No social grant has grown at such a rate. Only electricity prices have surged to these extreme levels.
This cannot be explained away as ordinary inflation. It reflects deliberate policy choices about who must carry the burden of the energy crisis. Working-class households have been turned into shock absorbers for systemic failures in the energy system.
“Electricity Apartheid H’as Not Ended, It Has Been Renamed “Load Reduction”
The government celebrates what it calls the “end of load shedding.” Yet for black working-class communities, power interruptions have not ended; they have merely been renamed. Eskom itself confirms that while load shedding may be suspended, “load reduction” continues during peak hours, particularly between early mornings and evenings.
The reality on the ground is stark: Suburbs enjoy a relatively stable electricity supply while townships face scheduled cuts. This amounts to electricity apartheid by another name. The affluent celebrate uninterrupted power, while working-class communities continue to cook, study, and live in darkness. Renaming the practice does not change its lived impact.
Workers Are Subsidising Private IPPs Through Eskom
One of the greatest distortions in public discourse is the claim that Eskom is inherently expensive because it is publicly owned. In reality, Eskom’s cost pressures are significantly driven by its obligation to purchase power from private Independent Power Producers (IPPs) at far higher rates than its own generation costs. Evidence presented by trade unions and energy analysts shows that IPPs sell electricity to Eskom at prices exceeding R2.00 per kWh, while Eskom’s internal generation costs have historically been a fraction of that amount.
These contracts are structured on “must-buy-first” terms and lock Eskom, and by extension the public, into long-term financial commitments running into more than a trillion rand over two decades.
The cycle is clear: Eskom buys expensive private power, costs escalate, tariffs rise, and workers are forced to pay. This is not genuine market competition. It is guaranteed profit for private capital, funded by the public. Profits are privatised while losses are socialised.
Big Business Gets Discounts, The Poor Get Punishment
While households face relentless tariff hikes, energy-intensive corporations receive preferential treatment. NERSA has approved major tariff discounts for large industrial users, including price reductions subsidised by the state. This creates a deeply unequal structure: mining and smelting corporations receive relief, IPPs enjoy guaranteed profits, townships face continued supply cuts, and workers absorb escalating electricity bills. The class character of the electricity system is laid bare; it protects capital while punishing the poor.
Women Carry the Crisis
Energy injustice is not experienced evenly. When electricity becomes unaffordable or supply is interrupted, the burden shifts disproportionately onto black working-class women. They are forced to stretch shrinking household budgets, cook without appliances, manage food spoilage, and shoulder the unpaid labour required to sustain households under crisis conditions. The energy crisis is therefore not only economic, but it is also racialised and gendered in its impact.
SAFTU DEMANDS
- An immediate reversal of household tariff hikes and an end to load reduction practices that target working-class communities.
- We call for a halt to the unbundling of Eskom and the privatisation trajectory embedded in IPP-first procurement.
- A full public audit of all IPP contracts and associated subsidies.
- A progressive tariff structure in which big business pays more while poor households are protected.
- South Africa’s renewable energy expansion must occur under democratic, public ownership led by Eskom, not through profit-driven private arrangements.
Electricity is a public good, not a commodity for profit extraction.
When electricity prices rise by over 600%, tariffs are set to increase by nearly 30% in three years, IPPs are subsidised, mining corporations receive discounts, and townships continue to face supply cuts, it cannot be claimed that the electricity crisis has been resolved. Eskom has not “turned the corner” for the majority, only for the wealthy.
SAFTU will continue to mobilise workers and communities to resist this neoliberal energy regime and to fight for a just, publicly owned, and affordable electricity system that serves the needs of the people rather than private profit.
Issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at
Newton Masuku;
066 168 2157
Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564
