It is a fact of life that the cost of it is constantly rising: interest rates, taxes, even a basic basket of groceries.

But an online petition launched on Avaaz is hoping to prevent South Africa’s power utility from hiking the price of electricity.

“Last year Eskom incurred additional costs of almost R23-billion – and it wants us to pay. That decision is up to the National Energy Regulator (Nersa), who has a good track record of protecting the public interest. But with hearings being cancelled in Bloemfontein, Nelspruit, and Polokwane, we need to ensure it can actually hear our voices,” the description of the petition reads.

Last week Eskom explained that it has applied for a 16.6% increase in the basic price of electricity to recuperate unanticipated expenditure created while generating electricity.

Eskom is seeking a whopping R11 billion in lost revenue due to lower than anticipated sales.

Addressing Nersa directly, the petition calls on the regulator “to reject Eskom’s application to further raise tariffs in 2016. We believe Eskom should be accountable for the decisions it makes; it can’t be for the public to bankroll Eskom’s miscalculations and oversights.”

The hope of the petition is to create enough noise so that Nersa can be aware of the grievances against Eskom’s plans – since some of the public hearings have been cancelled.

“Let’s create the biggest public response Nersa has ever seen, sending a loud, defiant ‘NO!’ in the face of Eskom’s shameless application. Avaaz will deliver our voices right into the final round of public hearings in Johannesburg next week – sign now and share widely,” it states.

This is not the first time that Avaaz has been used to launch an online petition against government actions.

“A year ago our community came together to reform education policy in South Africa (and won!), then we tackled internet censorship, and we pushed back on Marikana secrecy – now let’s stand against corporate impunity and demand affordable electricity for everyone.”

At the time of writing, the petition was 2 600 votes short of reaching the 30 000 signature goal.

[Image – CC by 2.0/Peter Nijenhuis]