Court clash over power

COSTS: WHAT THE REGULATOR DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW

- Antoinette Slabbert

SAME OLD. The current dispute is part of a long-running legal battle, with the same ruling in 2022 that Nersa's tariff methodology was unlawful. Picture: Bloomberg

(Bloomberg)

Customers have no right to see what it costs their municipalities to supply them with electricity, energy regulator Nersa argued on Tuesday in the High Court in Pretoria before Judge Etienne Labuschagne.

This information, which is compiled in a formal cost-of-supply (CoS) study, forms the basis of municipal tariff applications that Nersa must assess annually.

The court has been called upon to adjudicate a dispute over the process Nersa followed to determine all municipal tariffs for the current financial year that ends on 30 June next year.

AfriForum has brought an application to have the public participation process Nersa followed in determining the tariffs declared invalid.