Eskom has been granted a 31.3% tariff increase by the National Energy Regulator of SA(Nersa). The hike will come into effect on 1 July 2009. Eskom had wanted a 34% increase but they have only been allowed to increase tariffs by 31.3% which is still a substantial amount. With the current state of the South Africa economy, this hike is not going to go down well with consumers. This increase will affect every consumer no matter who you are. But the consumer, as hard as it will be, will have to bare with Eskom as they needed this increase in tariffs. Eskom have been trying since January last year to get a hike. They need to increase the electricity infrastructure in the country to meet the increasing demand of electricity.

The wait is almost over, the cost of telecommunications and Internet connectivity is set to be slashed soon when the 17 000km SEACOM fibre-optic undersea cable comes online this month in Southern and Eastern Africa. The cable is set to go live on 27 June. SEACOM would offer wholesale internet bandwidth - several times the current availability - to companies such as Neotel, Telkom, MTN and Vodacom. That should mean that these companies will be purchasing their bulk bandwidth at a fraction of the cost that they are currently paying and thus they should pass on this savings to us the consumer! I would be very mad if they do not do so!

I for example spend R389 a month for 2GB of bandwidth from Vodacom. This 2GB is just not enough for me during the month and to get it up to 3GB I would have to pay an extra R200 for that extra 1GB!!! There is no indication yet from any of the companies on how much we will now be paying for Internet bandwidth but the hope is that it will be a substantial drop. I am hoping to hear something along the lines of R100 for 5GB!

This SEACOM cable should not only mean we have cheaper bandwidth but it is also going to result in us having faster internet connectivity. Faster connectivity will mean that we will be able to do more online in a shorter space of time and also be able to watch HDTV and multi-media over the internet. Could this signal the demise of DSTV? We may not need satellite dishes anymore if we can watch TV via the internet! I see a lot of changes taking place thanks to this cable and it should all benefit us the consumer and businesses as a whole.

Get set for a hike in the price of petrol! The department of minerals and energy has revised the price of Wednesday’s petrol increase from 16c to 17c a litre. They have given no reason for this change. The decrease in diesel prices has also been revised. Diesel prices will decrease by 11.5c a litre and not 12.9c as stated on Friday, while 0.005% diesel will decline by 12.5 cents instead of 13.9 cents. Wholesale paraffin still decreases by nine cents and illuminating paraffin by 12c. Petrol in Gauteng will now cost 752c a litre from 735c before and 738c on April 1, and it is now 727c at the coast from 710c before.