Johannesburg - Johannesburg residents have been dealt another economic blow as the City of Johannesburg power utility City Power announced an electricity tariff hike.
City Power announced on Monday afternoon that after an extensive public consultation process, it applied to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) for an average tariff increase of 7.47% with effect from this month, July 2022.
“At the time of the public consultation process, it was expected that the electricity tariffs will, on average, increase by 9.61%. In consideration of the current economic conditions where most of our residents are affected, and given the NERSA guideline increase for municipal entities, City Power revised its proposed increase down to 7.47%, which was approved,” said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.
The power utility said it had 22 different tariffs for its four different customer categories, namely, residential, business, agricultural and large power users.
City Power said all tariff sub-categories are increasing by 7.47% except for the business convention tariff, which has been limited to 4.4% to gradually align with the NERSA benchmarks for the particular customer category.
The power utility added that the increase in tariffs is within NERSA guidelines and is essential to cover the increased cost of bulk purchases from Eskom, as well as to cover inflationary adjustment to City Power's operating cost.
“To simplify it, our customer Mrs Baloyi of Pimville, uses 350 kWh every month. Before July, she used to pay R592.93 (excluding VAT) per month for 350kWh of electricity. The increase, which started on July 1, 2022, will therefore mean Mrs Baloyi, still using 350kWh per month, will be charged R734.03 (including VAT), which is R51.02 more than what it was last financial year. And customers consuming 500kWh will, going forward, be paying R1 094.89, inclusive of VAT, which is R76.10 more than it was last financial year,” Mangena said.
He added that City Power, in its operations, always strives to ensure that electricity is available and is affordable for our customers who are already buckling under tough economic conditions.
“It's for this reason that while Eskom's average tariff increase for 2022 is 9.61%, with an increase of 8.61% levied to municipalities, including us at City Power, we managed to get our average tariff increase for 2022 at 7.47%, which is differentiated for the different customer categories,” the spokesperson said.
The new tariffs are available for the customers on the City Power website.
The Star