The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) failed to abide by a High Court order to complete and publish municipal and private electricity distributors’ tariff applications by 11 May 2026.
In a statement on Tuesday, 12 May 2026, Nersa said it would approach the court for an extension on the deadline to finalise 14 outstanding applications.
“Of the 176 tariff applications received on 31 March 2026, 162 were approved within the prescribed timeframe on 11 May 2026,” Nersa said.
“14 applications were not approved, seven were considered but identified as having information outstanding and/or requiring enhancements, and the other seven could not be considered before the deadline.”
Nersa said it could not proceed to consider the remaining 14 applications after the deadline, arguing this would breach the court order and be contempt of court.
“In addition, proceeding outside the timelines would have exposed the validity of the approved tariffs,” the regulator said.
It acknowledged that all the tariff applications were received within the required timelines, suggesting the delay was not due to any distributor slacking with their documentation.
Nersa said it would approach the High Court on an urgent basis to seek permission to consider and finalise the applications after the deadline.
The regulator stressed that the affected licensees must have their tariffs approved for implementation on 1 July 2026.
In recent years, Nersa has only finalised tariff applications in June, sometimes within days of municipalities coming into effect.
In 2024, the Sunday newspaper Rapport reported that Nersa’s electricity subcommittee approved roughly 30 applications over several two-hour meetings between 24 and 28 June.
The subcommittee spent just four minutes per application. Furthermore, the public did not have the opportunity to comment on the new tariffs before they were implemented on 1 July.
Nersa was initially given a 5 May deadline to finalise all applications in a High Court order on 8 December 2025 in favour of AfriForum.
The civil society organisation challenged Nersa’s tariff approval processes, which it argued lacked transparency.
AfriForum’s legal victories against Nersa
AfriForum’s head office in Kloofsig, Centurion
AfriForum firstly sought an order demanding that Nersa only consider municipalities and distributors’ electricity tariff adjustment applications if they furnished cost-of-supply studies.
In October 2025, the High Court ruled that Nersa’s approvals of tariff adjustments without these studies were unconstitutional.
The court also found that Nersa did not allow for proper public participation in the adjustment processes before approving them.
AfriForum also sought specific timelines for all future municipal electricity tariff applications, which the High Court granted in its ruling on 8 December 2025.
The prescribed deadlines defined by the High Court were as follows:
Eskom must submit its Retail Tariffs Structural Adjustments Application (ERTSA) by 31 August in the year preceding the adjustments.
Nersa must inform municipalities in writing of the wholesale tariffs at which electricity will be supplied for the upcoming financial year by 31 January in the year that the tariffs will take effect.
Municipal electricity tariff applications must be submitted to Nersa by 20 March each year.
Nersa must make its final decision on individual municipal tariffs by 5 May each year and communicate its reasoning immediately.
The court also ruled that tariff applications and cost-of-supply studies must be made available to the public for comment.
In February 2026, Nersa launched an urgent application in the High Court asking for extensions on all these deadlines for tariff applications for the 2026/27 financial year.
The High Court amended the deadline for the submission of applications to 31 March and the publication of Nersa’s final decisions to 11 May.
Nersa had sought to delay these deadlines to 17 April and 29 May, respectively.
At the time of its application, it had already missed the 31 January deadlines for publishing the notices on new bulk purchase tariffs and the notice to municipalities to submit applications.
AfriForum also challenged Nersa’s settlement with Eskom that would have allowed it to impose additional tariff increases without public consultation.
That development came after Nersa’s teams made a technical error that resulted in Eskom being granted tens of billions of rand less in revenue in its sixth multi-year price determination methodology.
On 21 December 2025, the High Court ruled Nersa’s revenue decision was unlawful, irrational, and based on material calculation errors.
The court ordered that the matter be referred back to Nersa and that the regulator had to give due regard to proper methodology and written
Source: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/647239-south-africas-electricity-price-watchdog-violates-court-order.html?utm_source=newsletter
