The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) will be engaging with various experts to assess the viability of a class action law suit against State-owned Eskom, on behalf of the public, to recoup amounts unlawfully charged by the power utility.
This follows the North Gauteng High Court’s decision to overrule the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) granting of a 9.4% tariff hike to Eskom, which came into effect in April.
Outa highlighted the approved tariff hike as representative of Nersa and Eskom’s “lack of transparency regarding costs”, as well as the regulator’s failure to evaluate whether Eskom operated efficiently.
With this in mind, the organisation applauded various businesses, including the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, for successfully challenging the tariff increase in court.
“Although not all amounts overcharged will be deemed significant in the eyes of some, it is an absolute matter of principle that Eskom pay back every cent they have overcharged,” said Outa director of legal affairs Ivan Herselman.
He added that Outa was aware that Eskom and/or Nersa were likely to appeal the latest ruling, but that the organisation would nevertheless start with preparations to determine whether a class action was feasible under the circumstances.
Outa had applied to interdict the Eskom tariff increase on March 31, claiming that the public was provided with insufficient time and information to analyse the reasons for the electricity tariff increase agreed to by Nersa, before it came into effect.
Outa, which is currently appealing against the judgment that ruled against them, noted that the outcome of the latest court ruling specifically confirmed Outa’s position that Eskom could revert to the lowest tariff, if the interdict was granted.