Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

NERSA must now get its act together and stick to court’s new timelines for municipal electricity tariffs

Soundbite: Deidré Steffens (English)

Soundbite: Deidré Steffens (Afrikaans)

AfriForum is calling on the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to stick to the new timelines for municipal electricity tariff applications as amended today in a court order. This appeal follows NERSA’s urgent application to have a previous court order – which set new, fair timelines for this process – reviewed. The application was heard yesterday and amended today by an order with minor adjustments to the timelines.

The civil rights organisation emphasises that failure to adhere to these new timelines could put serious pressure on municipalities’ budget processes, service delivery and ultimately consumers.

NERSA’s urgent application to amend the court order regarding the timelines for municipal electricity tariff processes was heard in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday.

AfriForum approached the court in August last year to have NERSA’s public participation process followed for the establishment of the 2025/2026 financial year municipal electricity tariffs declared invalid due to serious procedural flaws. AfriForum also requested the court to issue an interdict to ensure specified timelines for future applications of public participation processes. AfriForum also asked the court to set clear dates for the approval of municipal tariff increases. On 31 October, the High Court ruled in AfriForum’s favour and determined that NERSA’s approval for the implementation of municipal electricity tariffs without proper cost-of-supply studies and public participation processes was unconstitutional. By December, AfriForum’s application for an interdict to implement specific timelines for all future municipal electricity tariff applications was granted. It is these timelines that NERSA has now had revised for the 2026/2027 financial year.

Although AfriForum did not formally oppose the application, the organisation expressed serious reservations about it and proposed more feasible deadlines.

See the table below for an explanation of the adjustments to the timeline.

In addition to the order regarding the adjusted timelines, the court also determined today that any municipality that believes that the amended timelines still pose practical problems may bring an urgent application to be heard by 17 March for further amendment to the specific municipality’s timelines.

According to Deidré Steffens, advisor for Local Government Affairs at AfriForum, NERSA must utilise the time now granted to tackle the process effectively and in the interest of all parties and not allow irresponsible management of the process to hamper the application process – as in the past. “AfriForum will closely monitor the implementation of the amended timelines to ensure that the court’s directives are complied with. We will also ensure that the amended timelines continue to uphold the principles affirmed in the original judgment. The initial court order was aimed at restoring certainty, transparency and meaningful public participation in the tariff approval process. Although the timelines have now been adjusted for the 2026/2027 financial year, it remains essential that the process proceeds lawfully and that municipalities and electricity consumers are not disadvantaged,” Steffens concludes.

The outline includes the timelines approved by the court in December 2025, the deadlines requested in NERSA’s latest application, AfriForum’s adjusted timelines based on this application, and the approved deadlines from the order delivered on 20 February 2026.

	Deadline according to December order	NERSA application	AfriForum proposal	New deadline according to February order
Notice on new bulk purchase tariff	31 January	13 March	–
Notice to municipalities to submit applications	31 January	17 April	–
Deadline for municipalities’ applications	20 March	17 April	7 April	31 March
Finalisation of public participation process				21 April
Publication of NERSA’s final decisions	5 May	29 May	8 May	11 May