Powerless against electricity tariff hikes​

Picture: Bloomberg

Picture: Bloomberg

Published Nov 30, 2017

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If Eskom's Christmas wish for a 19% electricity increase sounds exorbitant, spare a thought for Australians. 

Energy prices in Victoria have gone up by an average of 63% in the year ending June 2017, while a cold storage friend in Melbourne is not relishing customer price negotiations to cover an expected additional 100% increase early next year…

Green principles closed down the Latrobe Valley's coal-fired Hazelwood station without sufficient certainty as to what would replace it. Wind generation has been intermittent and gas prices have gone through the roof. 

In neighbouring South Australia, Elon Musk has just won his bet by installing a 100MW lithium ion battery within 100 days from order, which should start to balance the supply of wind power and demand. 

The Australian electricity grid is a trainwreck and companies, especially in manufacturing, are going out of business.

Eskom's current problems may be different, but if South Africa wants to contain the fallout from higher electricity costs going forward, it needs to understand how electricity generation and supply is changing worldwide. 

Additional nuclear stations are unaffordable but don't turn off too many coal-fired ones before we have a few of Elon’s new batteries in place!   

James Cunningham

Camps Bay

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