Johannesburg – Following the National Stakeholder Summit on Electricity on Friday, all relevant stakeholders have recommended that any increase in electricity prices would occur gradually over a five year period.

 Speaking after the deliberations of the summit at the Sandton Convention Centre, Nedlac Director Herbert Mkhize said the recommendations taken by the summit have been accepted by all the relevant stakeholders.

 “As this is the first summit of its kind ever, I am thrilled by the way all the affected representatives have come to this conclusion … on the deliberations, we had to consider those who are disadvantaged,” said Mr Mkhize.

 Government, labour, community forums among others were represented at the summit.

 Eskom and municipalities were told to protect the poor from the impact of the increases and that any increases should be "poor-sensitive".

 It has also emerged [at the summit] that the tariff increases would not be introduced in one massive hike, but would be phased in over five years to reduce its negative impact.

 Minerals and Energy Deputy Director-General Nelly Magubane said all the stakeholders should make sure that all the agreed recommendations are put together and form part of Eskom’s revised application.

 “We now need to look at different mechanisms and other fighting instruments together with Eskom to see how we can achieve recommendations of the proposal,” said Ms Magubane.

 Eskom’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jacob Maroga said the summit needed to be recognised as a deep extra-ordinary scenario.

 “As this is the first time to meet on the issue of this nature, we need to recognise the seriousness of the energy crisis and see how solutions can be plugged in to what we already have in the pipeline,” said Mr Maroga.

 He said after submitting the revised proposal to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), all the achievements and combination of factors will determine the financial sustainability of Eskom.

 “With all these efforts, we want to make the industry reliable and sustainable as we need to be in a stable and viable environment for a long time,” the CEO said.

 Eskom would re-submit its application to the energy regulator on the proposed tariff hikes.

 The summit delegates determined that government should pump more money into Eskom to maintain its financial health and credit rating.

 The summit has appointed individuals such as Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin, Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, and African National Congress Secretary General Gwede Mantashe among others to meet urgently and agree on the appropriate tariff increases to be spread over five years.

 NERSA would be briefed on the outcome of the summit on Tuesday.

 Members of the public have also been encouraged to voice their opinions at NERSA's public hearings on Friday. – BuaNews