IMATU WELCOMES REJECTION OF TARIFF INCREASE

The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU) welcomes the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (NERSA) refusal to grant Eskom a further electricity tariff increase.

“As a union representing employees in the local government sector throughout South Africa, we are able to see the effects electricity price increases have on both our members and the municipalities they are employed by. We believe that ESKOM has failed to run its operations in an efficient and sustainable manner and are pleased that the price of its failures are not going to be passed on to consumers, ” stated IMATU Research and Policy Analyst, Anja Muller-Deibicht.

“Focus needs to be placed on addressing our country’s poor distribution network, aging infrastructure, lack of maintenance and political interference in the administrative running of municipalities. IMATU believes that investment in clean renewable energy generation by municipalities themselves, will result in increased electricity generation, additional revenue, better cross subsidization of poorer municipalities, further training and capacity building within the local government sector,” said Muller-Deibicht.

As a major stakeholder in local government, IMATU is committed to the realisation of an efficient and reliable energy sector and for this reason it is imperative that it forms part of the solution to the current electricity crisis.