Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) has been accused of being inconsiderate to consumers because of the proposed 21.31 per cent tariff hike.
This was revealed yesterday at a public hearing by the Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA) on the proposed tariff hike at Caritas in Manzini yesterday.
A customer identified as Zwane lambasted the company on the proposal. He said increasing the tariff showed that the power utility was inconsiderate when looking at the current state of affairs in the country.
He said the company made huge profits annually, which then make it hard for customers to easily comprehend such absurd demands.
“Increasing the tariffs will affect every business. Only a few will afford to purchase bread and other essential commodities,” said Zwane.
He further proposed that the company should categorise business people when it comes to payment of levy. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) shouldn’t be charged same as established companies. “Businesses using more than 100 units of electricity should not be obliged to pay levy and be liable to keep subsidy.”
Some of the consumers who attended the public hearing submitted that their businesses were hit hard by numerous challenges in the past two years.
This then made it unfair to have electricity tariffs increased as they were still in the process of recovering.
Mahlalela of Dalcrue in Malkerns said sugar cane farming and other businesses could close down if such increases could be approved. He said the proposed tariff hike was tantamount to worsening the current misery faced by business people, particularly sugar cane farmers.
Responding EEC’s James Mabundza said the power utility company had embarked on other projects to ensure electricity was affordable and reachable to every Liswati. He said profits made by the company were utilised in lessening the costs of electricity.
On that note, EEC Operations Manager Vusi Gama assured the farmers that the company would ensure businesses do not collapse. He said farmers would be provided with all the support they may need. He shared the company’s 10-year master plan to ensure that businesses were not affected in any way regarding their operations as they would easily access electricity to run their business.
Meanwhile, ESERA CEO Sikhumbuzo Tsabedze acknowledged the sentiments by the consumers regarding the proposed electricity hike. He said the inputs would be taken into consideration. He said as a regulator, they appreciated the contributions by the consumers as they aided them before the regulator took the final decision on the proposed tariff hike.
He said the final submissions by consumers would be received on December 14. A decision taken by the regulator would then be communicated in February.
“The review process takes three months. It begins from November 1 to January 31.
The tariff application would be followed by the tariff decision announcement then the tariff implementation which may take place in April 1,” said the CEO.
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