South Africa’s electricity bills are set for another jump from 1 April 2026 after the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) opened a fast tracked public consultation on Eskom’s Retail Tariff and Structural Adjustment (ERTSA) for the 2026 to 2027 financial year. The ERTSA process is the final step that translates NERSA’s approved revenue decision into the actual tariffs and tariff structures Eskom will charge different customer groups.
The consultation comes days after NERSA confirmed that Eskom’s previously approved increases for the next two years have been revised upward following a court ordered redetermination. The regulator has now signalled an average 8.76% increase for the 2026 to 2027 year, and an 8.83% increase for the 2027 to 2028 year, replacing earlier lower percentages that had been published.
While the percentage headline is significant on its own, the bigger risk for households and smaller businesses is that the bill impact may be higher than the base increase for certain users because fixed charges are being phased in under Eskom’s retail tariff reforms.
What is changing from 1 April and 1 July
NERSA’s consultation paper confirms the implementation dates and the split between Eskom direct customers and municipal customers.
Key dates are:
- 1 April 2026: Eskom tariffs take effect for non municipal customers, meaning customers supplied directly by Eskom.
- 1 July 2026: The Eskom bulk price takes effect for municipal customers, which then feeds into municipal tariff applications and local billing.
This split matters because many households do not buy electricity directly from Eskom. They buy from a municipality that purchases bulk power from Eskom, adds local charges, and bills residents under its own approved tariff schedule.
Why this increase is bigger than expected
The current increases are linked to a correction process after NERSA acknowledged errors in earlier calculations for Eskom’s multi year price decision. Those errors, and the attempt to resolve the matter through a settlement, ended up in court.
A High Court ruling in December 2025 set aside parts of the earlier decision and required a fresh determination after public submissions. NERSA has since redetermined the allowable revenue path and moved to implement the revised tariff increases without a retrospective increase for the current year.
Media reporting and stakeholder commentary have also highlighted that Eskom has been allowed to recover additional revenue over time as part of the correction, which is one reason the increases for 2026 and 2027 are higher than originally published.
What ERTSA is and why it matters
ERTSA is the annual tariff structure submission Eskom must lodge after NERSA sets the allowable revenue for the year. It does two things at the same time:
- Sets the rate of adjustment to tariffs for different customer groups.
- Publishes the schedule of standard tariffs that customers will actually see, including the charges that apply to each tariff option.
NERSA’s consultation paper describes the ERTSA decision as a foundation for municipal pricing as well, because municipalities use Eskom’s approved bulk tariffs as the base for their own tariff applications.
Importantly, NERSA has said the scope of this consultation is limited. The allowable revenue for the year has already been determined through the redetermination process. The consultation is focused on the tariff structural adjustment and the associated tariff schedules.
The headline number: 8.76% average increase
In its ERTSA application, Eskom states that an 8.76% annual average increase applies to municipal and non municipal standard tariffs for the 2026 to 2027 year.
Eskom’s submission includes the annual average price movement in cents per kilowatt hour and the forecasted sales volumes used to calculate the allowed revenues for municipal and non municipal categories.
On the residential side, Eskom’s tariff tables show an example of the energy rate increase for common low capacity residential tariffs:
- Homelight 20A energy rate rises from 216.11c/kWh to 235.04c/kWh
- Homelight 60A energy rate rises from 274.72c/kWh to 298.79c/kWh
These figures illustrate the base energy charge movement before accounting for any additional fixed charges or service charges that may apply under different tariff structures.
Why some bills could rise by more than 8.76%
The key warning in the current cycle is that the base energy rate increase is not the full story.
Eskom’s retail tariff reforms include a phased shift toward higher fixed components, including a Generation Capacity Charge for many tariffs and higher service and administration charges for specific residential options.
Eskom’s ERTSA application states that for the 2026 to 2027 year:
- The Generation Capacity Charge allocation increases to 30% of the benchmark value used in the retail tariff plan decision, up from 20% in the prior year.
- For Homepower and Homeflex, the fixed service charges increase to two thirds of the benchmark value, which equals 66.66%.
Eskom says these higher fixed charges are balanced by reductions in the variable energy rates so that the overall annual average increase for the tariff category remains in line with the ERTSA average. However, a shift toward fixed charges can change who pays more in practice.
Higher fixed charges tend to have a bigger impact on:
- Lower consumption households that buy fewer units per month
- Prepaid customers who track costs by the number of units purchased
- Households that have invested in partial self supply but still rely on the grid at night or in winter
In these cases, the effective cost per kilowatt hour can rise faster than the headline percentage because the fixed portion of the bill becomes a larger share of the total monthly cost.
Municipal customers: July is the start, but local bills can differ
For households supplied by municipalities, the Eskom increase is only part of the final bill.
Municipalities apply to NERSA for their own tariffs, and they can include:
- Local network charges
- Service fees and levies
- Approved surcharges that vary by municipality
This means two households with the same usage can see different bill outcomes depending on where they live and whether they buy from Eskom or a municipality.
The consultation paper also reflects the pressure created by court judgments on NERSA’s timelines for municipal tariff approvals. That timing sensitivity is one reason the ERTSA consultation has been shortened.
Consultation timeline and how the public can comment
NERSA has set a compressed window for public input on the ERTSA application.
The consultation paper states:
- The paper will be published for 15 days, not 30 days
- Written comments close on 2 March 2026 at 16:00
- Submissions can be sent by email, delivered to NERSA’s offices, or posted
NERSA has also provided specific stakeholder questions covering tariff category increases, the split between municipal and non municipal revenues, cross subsidies, and the tariff impacts arising from the Generation Capacity Charge implementation.
What to watch next
Three practical developments will determine how severe the next increase feels on the ground:
- NERSA’s final ERTSA decision for 2026 to 2027, including the approved tariff schedules and structural changes.
- Municipal tariff applications and approvals ahead of the July changeover for municipal supply.
- How Eskom’s fixed charge phase in is applied across residential and small business tariffs, especially where households have low monthly consumption.
South Africa’s electricity tariff debate now sits at the intersection of affordability, Eskom’s financial sustainability, and the design of tariffs in a system where more customers are changing how they use the grid.
