Cape Town - The City of Cape Town wants to augment its income with a 26% water increase so that it can rake in just more than R3 billion for water augmentation schemes while a further R9.4bn from property rates and R12bn from electricity sales is required.
Added to the water increases is a fixed level 6 water restriction tariff increase in the 2018/19 financial year and a minimum fixed charge of R56 a month for homeowners with water meters that are 15mm in size.
A sanitation restriction charge has also shot up and residents will pay 78% more if the budget is approved.
Homeowners with a property value of R1million or more will pay a flat rate of R150 a month for electricity on top of their monthly bills.
Mayor Patricia de Lille has tabled a draft R49.1bn budget for the 2018/19 year of which R39.9bn is for operational expenditure and R9.2bn for capital expenditure.
Xanthea Limberg, mayoral committee member for water, informal settlements and energy, said the City needs sustainable streams of income as the drought has made issues difficult.
“In light of the current severe drought, various initiatives are planned over the next few years to ensure sustainability and resilience in the provision of water to the City. This includes investments in desalination, underground extraction from aquifers and water reclamation,” Limberg said.
It is proposed that municipal services will increase as follows: Property rates by 7.20%, electricity by 8.14%, water by 26.96%, sanitation by 26.96% and refuse by 5.70%. For indigent (poorer households) water consumers, there is some relief as the increase in the punitive level 6 water tariff will not apply to them if their consumption is less than 10.5kilolitres.
Non-indigent users would be charged a minimum of R40.73 if their consumption is between 0 and 6kilolitres. Consumers who use more than 35kilolitres would be charged R768.64 on top of their municipal rates accounts.
Consumers in the 10.5 to 20kilolitre and 20 to 35kilolitre brackets would be charged R127.13 up from R100 (for the 10.5 to 20 bracket) in 2017/18, while the 20 to 35kilolitre bracket has decreased from R300.
There are also proposals for an increase in punitive sanitation charges with the lowest users paying 78% more. This means consumers who use between 0 and 4.2kilolitres would pay a fixed rate of R40.21 up from R22.50 in 2017/18.
Consumers using between 7.35 and 24.5 or more kilolitres would be billed R128.34. Indigent users would only pay a fixed rate of R128.34 if they used more than 7.35kilolitres.
Limberg said the City would introduce a fixed charge according to the size of the water meter installed at properties.
This, she said, was to cover the cost of the reticulation business and cost of supply and was based on the connection size and demand on the water system.
Homeowners with meter sizes of 15mm would be charged R56; 20mm water meters would add an extra R100 to accounts; and 25mm would cost R156.
Limberg said most properties were fitted with 15mm water meters, adding that indigent households would pay no water meter charge.
Johan van der Merwe, mayoral committee member for finance, said the City anticipated a revenue stream of R2billion from sanitation services, R1.2bn from refuse removal services; R1.28bn from fines, penalties and forfeits; and R46million from licence fees.
He said the City’s biggest expenditure was R12bn for salaries; R2.8bn for debt impairment; R2.9bn for depreciation and asset impairment; R1.4bn for financial charges; R9.8bn for bulk purchases; and R6bn for contracted services.
De Lille also said a R2.7bn social package has been made available for poorer households.
Faizel Davids, a member of the Water Crisis Coalition, said the City had mismanaged the water infrastructure and resources.
“They now want to recover that from the poor and the working class, which is totally unacceptable.
"We, the water crisis coalition, will mobilise the masses not to accept or make payments to the City until they hear our voice,” he said.
There was no debate on the tabling of the budget.
Cope councillor Farouk Cassiem said the need for water remained important.
ANC councillor Thembelani Sakathi said the DA had focused on the rich rather the poor.
Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the water increases would put further pressure on consumers and businesses.