Johannesburg - Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba will on Thursday meet the business community to discuss the likely impact of a proposed 15 percent annual tariff increase by state power utility Eskom over the next three years.
In a statement, Mashaba said the city wanted to incorporate the views of business people as part of its representations to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) in opposition of the hikes.
The mayor said years of mismanagement and corruption at the state enterprise had helped slow economic growth and increased the hardships faced by residents.
In October, Eskom announced it had asked Nersa for a 15 percent tariff hike per year for the next three financial years in a bid to attain revenue of R219 billion in 2019/20, R252 billion in 2020/21 and R291 billion in 2021/22.
Eskom is about R420 billion in the red.
Nersa will kick off the last leg of public hearings on Eskom's application in Gauteng province which incorporates Johannesburg on Friday.