A bit off the mark from my usual topics, and I could probably put a techie slant on if I really wanted to, but not going to go there... :-)

As some South Africans are reeling with shock from Nersa's recent announcement on electricity price hikes (an average increase in excess of 20% over the next three years), others are giving a sigh of relief that the price hike is "not what they were asking for".

What is important to note however is that this is the rate at which Eskom makes electricity available to the municipalities who then redistribute (at a cost) to the consumer. These municipalities can then add up to 15.33% to the price that the consumer is then charged in 2010, 16.03% in 2010 and 16.16% in 2012. So an increase that seemed to give the consumer a break, will still be increased in excess of 15% over and above Eskom's increase. The result?

Unless municipalities curb their portion of the increase, the consumer could face an increase almost 10% more than Eskom's original request. Will the municipalities come to the party? Jo'burg have apparently committed to keeping their part of the increase as low as possible - whether this will be the case is another story. And whether the other municipalities will follow suit is something I cannot answer. We will have to wait and see when the price increase actually kicks in. Bear in mind, however, that these are the same municipalities that jumped at the highest possible increase in the last round of price hikes.

It amazes me how we keep talking about making electricity available to the more rural areas as a basic human right, but then we make it so expensive that most people just cannot afford it.