Women- and child-headed households are likely to be the hardest hit if Eskom's application for a 36.15% tariff increase from 2025 -- more than 40% if municipal tariffs are added -- is implemented, SA's energy regulator heard during a public meeting in Gqeberha.

'Remember the poor people," Melikhaya Blani from the Eastern Cape Combined Environmental Forum (ECCEF) pleaded with the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) on Wednesday at a public hearing in Gqeberha into a proposed Eskom tariff increase of 36.1%.

She said child-headed households that subsisted on grants would not be able to afford electricity if the increase were allowed. "For R100 you can buy 40 units, if not 38 units," she said.

"We already can't afford to cook with electricity. We have to fetch wood. You really don't deserve 36%," said an emotional Blani.

She said that in many households, people cooked only one meal a day and relied on soup kitchens for the second meal.

"Even myself, [I] have to do that," she said. "We can't even afford a loaf of bread any more. Eskom, you are killing us. You are a silent killer."

She said their community also suffered constant power outages.

Linda Festil, also from the ECCEF, said not enough communities had heard about the public hearings.

"We can't afford newspapers and data," said Festile. "We feel that this public meeting is not public enough."...