As yet another electricity price increase looms, the minister of electricity Kgosientsho Ramogkopa assured residents that the days of double-digit increases are gone. The last double-digit price hike will be implemented for the 2025/26 financial year, after national energy regulator NERSA and Eskom recently agreed upon on average increase of 12.74% for Eskom’s direct customers and 11.32% for municipal customers.

Residents who rely on Eskom directly will feel the pinch from 1 April 2025. City of Cape Town residents will deal with the increase in the energy cost from 1 July 2025.

READ MORE: Nersa approves 12,74% Eskom tariff hike for 2025

Ramogkopa was speaking at the Kusile Power Station in Mpumalanga on Tuesday, as he continues with his oversight visits to power stations across the country. That oversight visit was followed by a trip to Matla Power Station, where he assessed matters further. Ramogkopa is heading to power plants across the country, in an effort to bring an end to rolling blackouts.

“Eskom must live with that reality. I made the point to the Eskom board; the era of double-digit tariff increases are over. I don’t think you are going to see it in the foreseeable future, because there are new players in this space who say “I can do it better than Eskom, I can do it cheaper, more efficiently and I will also be reliable,” said Ramokgopa.