Who pushes the buttons? Investigating the regulatory governance of retail electricity tariff setting in South Africa through institutional analysis and development

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The rapid increase in South African electricity prices in the past eight years has been overseenby a proactive, policy-oriented regulator, NERSA. Regulatory governance theory proposes thatregulation is most effective when the roles of different organisations are clearly defined. Whilethe laws establishing the regulator comply with this requirement, effectiveness of regulation ischallenged by a weak ministry, overlapping spheres of regulatory influence and competing goalsamongst the parties involved. It is hypothesised that this impacts the outcomes of the regulatoryinstitution. Using Institutional analysis and development as a framework, the interactionsbetween the regulator, the energy ministry, municipal electricity distributors and NationalTreasury are investigated. Attempts to change the institutional rules have generally failedbecause of the threat they posed to the constitutional and financial interests of municipalities.The regulator, with support from National Treasury, has achieved success in ensuringcompliance by municipalities to its administrative processes and its prescribed tariff escalationrates. It has been less successful at ensuring standardisation of business tariffs across electricitydistributors. The regulator's tariff objectives have prioritised protection of the poor rather thaneconomic development. The major pro-poor initiative of the regulator is the inclining block tariffwhich has effectively subsidised electricity consumption of low usage households. This isprimarily at the expense of municipalities, rather than other consumers.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University