Capetonians who are fed-up with the DA-led City’s high electricity tariffs protested outside the Civic Centre at the weekend, calling for a revision of the entire electricity tariff setting policy, debt collection policy and the “inadequate implementation of public participation”, among others.
Civil society, unions and political parties came together in their opposition of the City’s 17.6% electricity tariff hike for 2023/24. This is 2.5% more than the 15.1% approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).
The group, including organisations and parties, Women's Assembly Movement, Community Unity, GOOD, Sanco, the National Coloured Congress, Al Jama-Ah, Cosatu, ANC, and Western Cape Gangwatch, handed over a memorandum to the City.
“We are a collective of different organisations, ordinary people and workers in this City and stand firmly to express our anger, frustration and disappointment at the lack of recourse and solutions offered by the mayor and municipal manager.
“Over the years the City acted in an aggressive, uncooperative and non-transparent manner which is aimed at excluding the wider public and serving only a few.
“The mayor complains that it will ‘lose’ R500million if the electricity tariffs are lowered by 2.5%. However, the same mayor is quiet about the provisional R4.5billion surplus reported in the July 2023 Financial Monitoring report for 2022/23,” the memorandum read.
“We therefore demand that the City immediately desist from alienating and exploiting the public. Being inclusive must be set as a core goal by the City administration. Linking fixed charges and tariff blocks to property values are a discriminatory practice.
We demand that affordability must be the only criteria when setting tariffs.”
In a statement, the City said it had previously engaged with many of the matters raised in the memorandum.
“The City’s electricity tariff is a legal council-approved tariff in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
“The Nersa tariff methodology has been declared unlawful by two courts.
“Having approved an 18.5% Eskom hike, Nersa’s recommendation of 15.1% for municipalities is not sustainable for the City, and would lead to a shortfall in excess of R500m for 2023/24 alone.
“In Cape Town, households with a property value under R500000 pay the least for electricity in Cape Town compared to SA’s other cities in 2023/24.
The City of Cape Town is also the only metro to decrease electricity tariffs for ‘lifeline’ electricity customers this financial year, helping to shield struggling households from Eskom’s 18.5% tariff hike,” the City said.
The group has given the City until Friday to respond to its demands, and called for a senior level panel with in-depth knowledge and the necessary authority to champion remedies for the grievances.
Cape Times