A $3 Billion Error Draws Apology From South Africa Energy Agency

South Africa’s energy regulator apologized for a 54 billion-rand ($3.1 billion) error in calculating electricity tariffs, a mistake that will be passed on to consumers.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa, which determines what state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. can charge for electricity, announced the miscalculation last month, without providing further details. On Wednesday, it put the blunder down to a “data input error” that was picked up by Eskom, according to a presentation to lawmakers.

While the mistake had been identified before the tariff determinationwas made in January, it wasn’t rectified as indicated at ...