Nersa granted leave to appeal Eskom’s price hike victory

The Johannesburg High Court’s Judge Kathree-Setiloane has granted the energy regulator leave to appeal a previous ruling, stating the view that there were reasonable prospects of successful appeal and that another court would come to a different decision.

Power utility Eskom has welcomed the High Court judgement granting leave for appeal to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) over its bid against the former’s recovery of misappropriated equity to the tune of R69 billion.

The ongoing court battle was prompted by Nersa’s decision last year to deduct a R69-billion equity injection into Eskom. In August, the Johannesburg High Court has found that Nersa acted illegally when doing this, because of the timing in relation to Eskom’s finances last year. Eskom was of the view that such deductions were the main source of their financial troubles.

On the 28th of September 2020, the Johannesburg High Court’s Judge Kathree-Setiloane granted the energy regulator leave to appeal this ruling, stating their view that there were reasonable prospects of successful appeal and that another court would come to a different decision.

In a statement on Wednesday morning, Eskom’s CFO, Calib Cassim, said he was in agreement that this matter was significant importance to the country. He said it would be beneficial for a Superior Court to provide an order on the recovery of the misappropriated equity.

“Eskom is committed to a speedy outcome to this process as any further delay in resolving this matter continues to burden the economy of the country. It is hoped that this process will allow for adherence to the relevant legislative and regulatory requirements in the future,” the statement read. The Judge also ruled that costs were costs in the appeal.

Simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.