1. Municipal Electricity Tariff Regulation Presentation to NEDLAC
12 JUNE 2012

2. Contents NERSA’s role Overview of the Electricity Industry
Determination of the guideline
Consultation Process
Above guideline applications
Eskom MYPD Process
Conclusion

3. 1. NERSA’s Role

4. Who is NERSA National Energy Regulator Act, Act No 40 of 2004;
Independent Regulator: 4 Full-Time and 5 Part-Time Members
Responsible for the regulation of three energy industries: electricity; piped-gas; petroleum pipelines
Decisions based on reasons, facts and evidence
Transparency: Public meetings/hearings
Significant monitoring and compliance obligation
Industry legislation
Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act No. 4 of 2006) as amended in 2007
Gas Act, 2001 (Act No. 48 of 2001);
Petroleum Pipelines Act, 2003 (Act No. 60 of 2003);
Money Bills
Gas Regulator Levies Act, 2002 (Act No. 75 of 2002); and
Petroleum Pipelines Levies Act, 2004 (Act No. 28 of 2004).
Policy Documents
Electricity Pricing Policy
New Generation Regulations

5. “To be a world-class leader in energy regulation”
NERSA Vision and Mission
NERSA strives to regulate the South African
electricity, piped-gas and petroleum pipelines industries
by ensuring that the most efficient and effective industries are in place
to exceed the requirements of existing and future energy customers.
This is encapsulated in its Vision statement:
“To be a world-class leader in energy regulation”
Further supported by this Mission
“To regulate the energy industry in accordance with government laws and policies, standards and international best practices in support of sustainable development.”

6. Regulatory Principles
Regulatory principles, which guide the Regulator’s conduct and service delivery:
Rule of Law: Law applies to everybody and provides a clear framework for everybody to operate. Review and appeal by high court
Transparency: reason for decisions and consultative processes;
Neutrality: neutral to all market players without favouring one or other group (non-discrimination)
Consistency: Explained decisions enabling stakeholders to take informed decisions – no surprises; predictability
Independence: Independence from stakeholders and politicians; within legal framework and published Government policy)
Accountability: Internal accountability – PFMA. Regulator takes responsibility for actions and decisions.
In addition, NERSA binds itself to carry out its business efficiently, economically and effectively, as required by legislation.

7. Regulatory Functions Licensing: Construction, operations, trading;
Setting and/or approval of tariffs and price structures;
Setting of conditions of supply and standards;
Monitoring compliance with licence conditions:
separate accounting provisions;
third party access and interconnection provisions;
non-discrimination;
safety, environment, health and security standards (in collaboration with other agencies)
Responding to non-compliance
setting penalties and fines for non-compliance.

8. Regulatory Functions (contd.)
Investigating complaints;
Mediating or arbitrating in disputes;
Gathering and storing industry information;
Promoting BEE, competition and improved efficiency of the energy industry;
Consulting with government regarding industry development; and
Expropriating land as necessary to meet the objectives of the relevant legislation.

9. 2. Overview of the Electricity Industry. 2. 1 General Industry Issues
2. Overview of the Electricity Industry General Industry Issues Regulatory Consideration

10. Developments in the Electricity Industry 2.1. General Industry Issues
There is a supply-demand mismatch;
Investments are being made to add more capacity;
Eskom : Kusile, Medupi and Ingula Power Station
A total of 28 bidders were selected for phase 1 with a total of 1406MW
A total of 19 bidders have just been selected for phase 2 with a total of MW
CoGeneration Projects: SAPPI, IPSA, Mondi, and others
Time lag to bring new generation capacity online implies that the supply will remain tight in the short run;
New investments have to be paid for through a combination of borrowings, equity and tariffs as a general rule;

11. Developments in the Electricity Industry
(contd.)
IRP2010 (Integrated Resource Plan 2010) sets out for the first time a balanced path to a low carbon future in a structured cost optimized way
It sets out a generation build time table per technology
It resulted in the Government’s first and second round of bidding for renewable energy IPPs;
NERSA has put in place streamlined mechanisms for processing the licence applications received from the selected IPPs with minimum delay, arising from each bidding round.

12. Developments in the Electricity Industry
(contd.)
The Department of Energy intends to issue third bidding round in August 2012 to allocate more generation capacity as per its (DoE) published Integrated Resource Plan;
Generation from renewable energy sources will diversify South Africa’s electricity generation mix and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions;
This investment in capacity needs to be accompanied by demand side management/conservation in the short-term;
Eskom initiatives and delicate balancing act through power buyback agreements with some of the large mining and industrial customers to reduce demand
The Department of Energy has also announced that it will undertake a review the Electricity Pricing Policy before the MYPD 3 decision is made.

13. Developments in the Electricity Industry
2.2. Regulatory Considerations
NERSA electricity pricing is guided by the Electricity Pricing Policy which was approved by Cabinet in (Currently under review)
The cost of New capacity is inevitably higher (last power station built in the 1970’s)
The challenge to NERSA as Regulator to set a regulated price of electricity when the input price (price of coal) is not regulated;
NERSA required to set cost-reflective prices and tariffs to enable an efficient licensee to recover efficiently incurred costs and make a reasonable return commensurate with risk;
In executing its mandate, NERSA is enjoined to strike a fair balance between the long term financial sustainability of the utility and affordability of the electricity prices to the customers;

14. 3. Determination of guideline

15. Determination of tariffs & increases
Ideally Cost of Supply (CoS) studies need to be conducted:
To determine the cost elements
To determine the cost of supplying the different customer categories
To determine the required subsidies
From the CoS studies
Determine the weighting of the cost elements in the tariffs
Determine the appropriate % increase of each element
(e.g. Manpower or maintenance costs)
Set or determine the tariffs for the different customer categories

16. Determination of the guideline % increase
Use of the current costs and cost structures of the municipalities
To determine the weighting of the costs and cost structures
Establish the appropriate ranges of the various cost structures
Power Purchase cost for electricity
Manpower costs (Salaries and wages)
Repairs and maintenance
Capital charges
Other (e.g. shared services)
Use the appropriate or determined % increases
Eskom price increase for Power Purchase costs
As determined by the MTBPS for Salaries and Wages
Inflation (as determined by NT circulars) for Repairs, Maintenance and other

17. Determination of the guideline % increase
On average the weighting of the different cost structures are:
Cost Category
% of total costs
Energy Purchases 70
Salaries & wages 10
Repairs & Maintenance 6
Capital Charges 4
Other costs
TOTAL
100

18. Determination of the guideline % increase
For the 2012/13 financial year the % increases are as follows:
Cost Category
% increase
Weighted % increase
Energy Purchases
13.5
9.45
Salaries & wages 5
0.50
Repairs & Maintenance
5.4
0.32
Capital Charges
0.22
Other costs
0,54
% guideline increase
11.03

19. Other assumptions - % guideline increase
Customer mix assumes % of industrial and commercial customers at least 40%
Electricity purchased from Eskom at the Mega-Flex or similar
50kWh of Free Basic Electricity for the indigent
Time of Use tariffs are used for customer categories that can shift load accordingly

20. Determination of benchmarks
DOMESTIC TARIFFS(IBTs)
COMMERCIAL 2000 kWh
INDUSTRIAL
43800 kWh
(c/kWh)
ESKOM MEGA-FLEX
Domestic
Block 1
0 – 50 kWh
Block 2
51 – 350kWh
Block 3
351 – 600 kWh
Block 4
>600 kWh
Prepaid
Conventional
61 – 66
77 – 82
124 – 129
130 – 135
132 – 137
85.32
Notes:
Eskom customers are connected at High voltage levels (Transmission)
Municipalities buy from Eskom at Mega-Flex
Eskom has a customer base and mix that allows for cross subsidies

21. 4. Consultation process

22. Consultation processes
The determination was done in consultation with the following stakeholders:
Publication of the consultation paper for stakeholder comments
Consideration of stakeholder comments
Workshops with AMEU
Meetings with National Treasury
Public Hearing held on 18 November 2011 on the determined guideline increase
Approval of the initial guideline made on 24 January 2012
After receipt and approval of Eskom’s revised price application a revised guideline was approved on 9 March 2012
Decision communicated to all stakeholders

23. Timelines & processes

24. Timelines & processes

25. 5. Above guideline applications (2012/13)

26. Above guideline applications
Name of Municipality
Municipal Proposed Percentage Increase for 2012/13
Motivation provided by municipalities for above-guideline increase
City Power
14%
Repairs and Maintenance
Drakenstein
13.03%
Additional staffing, equipment for revenue management and increased costs for new smart metering
Gamagara
23.83%
Making provision for the capital expenditure projects
Hessequa
11.5%
To ensure revenue neutrality
Lesedi
20.00%
To cater for the increased operational expenditure
Midvaal
25.04%
Expenditure on electricity purchases is larger than anticipated income.
High increases due to a mistake on Eskom’s metering equipment
Mthonjaneni
18%
Upgrading of infrastructure
Nkomazi
15%

27. Above guideline increases
Eight (8) municipalities were considered during the first Public hearing held on 29 May 2012
Next public hearing scheduled for 22 June 2012
An additional 12 municipalities have applied for increases that are above the guidelines
Not all municipalities applying for above guideline increase will go through a public hearing process. Municipalities whose tariffs are below NERSA’s benchmarks would not be required to go through a public hearing process.

28. Requirements for above guideline increases
Municipalities applying for an increase that is above the guideline have to justify their increases to the Energy Regulator and the following actions would be expected:
a full analysis of additional funds requested needs to be presented to NERSA as part of the motivation for above guideline increase.
the approved funds must be ring-fenced to ensure that they are strictly utilised for the identified projects;
municipalities must report to NERSA on a six-monthly basis on how the additional funds are utilised;
NERSA does do inspections to verify municipal reports
funds not utilised for the purpose for which they were approved for will be clawed back in the following financial year.

29. 6. Eskom MYPD process

30. Review of the MYPD methodology
NERSA is awaiting the finalisation of the EPP review by government
Revaluation of the assets
Rate of return
Awaiting Eskom’s application
Length of the MYPD application
Claw-back mechanism

31. .
7. Conclusion

32. Conclusion
NERSA, through its mandate of tariff/pricing, has a critical role to manage the price paths migration during this period of necessary high capital investment in South Africa;
Pricing decisions will continue to balance between sustainability of the utilities and affordability for the consumers.
NERSA will continue to conduct its business in fair and transparent manner, within published government policy and legislation in exercising its mandate.

33. THANK YOU Website: www.nersa.org.za Tel:012- 401 4600
Fax: