Gauteng residents are in for a rough ride as three main metros are planning to hold public meetings to determine the annual electricity tariffs to take effect in July.
This comes after the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) granted Eskom a 9.61% electricity tariff increase last month.
City of Johannesburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said municipal power utility City Power will be starting the process to determine how the metro will implement its annual electricity price.
“City Power will by March 10 2022 be submitting the draft tariff application for the 2022/2023 financial year to the City of Johannesburg. The City of Johannesburg will consolidate all applications from entities and together with the overall draft budget of the City and submit it to council for its consideration and approval. Once council has approved the draft budget and proposed tariffs for the new financial year, it will be published for purposes of stakeholder and public consultation process,” said Modingoane.
“The draft City Power tariffs will, after consideration of the stakeholder and/or public comments, be finalised for formal consideration and adoption by council for the new financial year,” said Modingoane.
Modingoane added that tariffs were regulated by Nersa and were therefore further subjected to Nersa scrutiny.
“City Power therefore has to also apply to Nersa for approval of its tariffs having considered public comments. Eskom had applied for an increase of 20.5%, however, Nersa limited the increase to 9.61% only. Nersa is yet to determine increases municipal entities will be allowed to the tariffs for their respective end customers.
“The proposed increase for City Power will be greatly influenced by the increase allowed to Eskom as well as current projected inflation,” said Modingoane.
Modingoane said the City would take into consideration the current financial situation that residents find themselves in as consumers are gradually recovering from the financial implications of Covid.
“City Power considers input from customers and consumers of electricity in our area of supply. It also considers affordability of electricity, especially in the current economic climate. These considerations, however, have to be balanced with the ability to ensure security and quality of supply. It is important for City Power to be able to operate and maintain the electricity infrastructure. It may therefore be essential to at least make inflationary adjustments to City Power tariffs to ensure necessary financial viability for security and quality of supply of electricity.”
City of Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the city’s electricity tariffs increase would be informed by Nersa's municipal electricity price increase guidelines.
“What the city knows is that 74%-76% of the electricity tariffs that the municipality receives are for bulk electricity purchase. Therefore, there is no actual tariffs that we can say at this time that Nersa will approve for the city. Electricity business is highly regulated and as such the city is required to undertake public consultation before submitting the final tariffs to council and Nersa,” said Mashigo.
Ekurhuleni metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the metro would announce its annual electricity tariff increase when it passes its budget for the 2022/2023 financial year.
“The process of completing the budget will be around the end of May and the new tariff will take effect from July 1. In most instances Eskom would increase tariffs by so much then we would pass on a lesser percentage to the community and absorb a part of it,” said Dlamini.
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