A public consultation to address the contentious Ekurhuleni electricity tariff increase that led to unrest in Tembisa saw less than 30 residents turning up to discuss the issue.
The consultations, which began last month, were prompted by outrage from residents — particularly in Tembisa, where protests broke out over what communities described as an unfair and unaffordable new cost added to electricity bills.
Saturday was supposed to be the last leg of the consultations at the Springs civic centre supper hall but the residents who attended said the reason for the low turnout was because a wrong address was given on the invitation.
This is about citizen activism and whether people want to be involved or not.
— Zweli Dlamini, Ekurhuleni municipality spokesperson
However, Ekurhuleni municipality spokesperson Zweli Dlamini rubbished the claim.
“People just chose not to attend,” he said.
“We advertised this event throughout the week. There is only one civic centre in Springs and many others across the city. Because we understood that not everyone can make it to the meetings, there is an option to make their thoughts known by making a submission online or via the civic centre. There are set portals for that. This is about citizen activism and whether people want to be involved or not.”
He also said a correct address and transport had been made available for residents who wished to attend.
During the consultation, MMC for corporate shared services in the City of Ekurhuleni, Sivuyile Ngodwana, apologised to the attendees on behalf of city officials for not consulting the residents of Ekurhuleni before implementing the new electricity tariff.
He said they were now trying to rectify the mistake through the consultations.
“We are here to listen to the community’s views on this tariff. If we don’t listen to the communities, we get punished. We are trying to rectify because we were supposed to do this before the 1st of July, when this initially became effective. We are admitting our mistake here, and we are correcting it now,” he said.
Clarifying what had necessitated the charge, Ayanda Shezi, senior technician for metering at the city, said it was necessary to keep the city’s power grid functioning.
“The basic charge ensures that the grid capacity is available. It helps recover costs associated with operating and maintaining the electricity distribution network, ensuring all users contribute fairly, even when no electricity is consumed.”
Shezi said the R126 tariff applies to low-consumption residential customers under Tariff A2.
Adding to Shezi’s points, the head of the energy department in the city, Siphele Nxele, said electricity, which Ekurhuleni gets from Eskom, is expensive and has increased by 11.3% in the current year. He said the city also has to increase by the same amount to maintain equilibrium.
“The cost of buying electricity is high, and coal is running out. We need to use electricity sparingly.
“As we speak, this year Eskom increased costs by 11.3%, we also have to do the same if we want to deliver services at a good value for money.
“On average, during winter, monthly the city pays about R2.5bn to Eskom and about R1.8bn during summer. But we also find ourselves, in the 52nd week of the year, dealing with illegal connections, infrastructure vandalism and many other issues. The total [number] of illegal connections removed for 2024/2025 across the city is 42,050,” Nxele said.
However, residents have rejected the new tariff, asking why they must pay it when they don’t see the value for their money.
Joyce Maluleke, a Springs resident, said communities need reliable electricity and not tariffs that increase living costs.
“If they aim to fix, they must go down to communities and understand and fix our issues first: lack of street lighting, unstable power, cable theft and power cuts. After that we can talk about introducing the tariff and explaining to residents how it will work, not first introducing [new tariffs] and then wanting the community to comment.”
Another resident, Andries Hadebe, accused the city’s employees of sabotage.
“The saboteurs of the electricity are within the same department, people who know where these cables are and how far they run. And they later come back as technicians or contractors deployed by the city. This charge hurts indigent households and the elderly, who used to get free 100kW and now have been reduced to 50kW.”
Nxele said covid had affected the city and its finances; while policies recommended 50kW free for indigent households, in the past the city had been able to give 100kW but could currently only afford to give 50kW for free.
Following mounting criticism regarding the tariffs back in July, Ekurhuleni mayor Dr Nkosindiphile Xhakaza had announced temporary suspension of the tariff to allow for broader engagement with affected communities before a final decision was made.
Sowetan
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