The City of Cape Town is offering its residents relief to pay significantly less per electricity unit after Eskom’s 18.5% tariff hike increase from July.
It said its Lifeline Tariff customers will pay less per unit in the 300-650 usage band this winter.
It will also be protecting households by reducing the tariff hike to 17.6%.
“With the City’s special protection, Lifeline Tariff Customers using 350 - 600 units will now pay only R1.84 in this usage band, compared to R3.15 per unit in 2022/23,” mayoral committee member for finance, Councillor Siseko Mbandezi said.
“This will help to protect households using more electricity this winter, while an average usage of 450 units over a 12-month period still applies to remain in this tariff category.
“The City has also upped the property value criteria to qualify for the Lifeline tariff, from R400,000 to R500,000. Residents with a property value higher than R500,000 may also still qualify for the Lifeline tariff if their household monthly income is below R7,500,” Mbandezi said.
Mbandezi said the City was further expanding the qualifying threshold for pensioners and social grant recipients to benefit from the Lifeline Tariff and rates rebates with the qualifying limit now R22,000 monthly income, this is up from R17,500.
He said the City aims to steadily lessen its reliance on Eskom and access more affordable power sources to end load shedding over time.
Its 2023/24 budget includes a R2.3 billion ‘end load shedding’ plan to protect against the first four stages of load shedding by 2026.
This would be achieved via a combination of buying power on the open market and demand management, Mbandezi said.
“In the interim, the City will continue to oppose Eskom’s well-above-inflation annual tariff hikes, which we objected to as being unaffordable and unjust during the recent public participation on Eskom tariffs.
“Currently, around 70% of the City’s income from the electricity tariff goes towards buying bulk electricity purchases from Eskom, with the remaining 30% going towards delivering a reliable electricity service and plans to end load shedding,” Mbandezi said.
He said the City increased its total support package by more than half a billion for 2023/24 to R4.3 billion for rates and services relief.
“The metro continues to offer South Africa’s highest allocation of free water at 15kl, the highest allocation of free sanitation at 10.5kl, and up to 60 free electricity units, the most of all metros linking social relief to property value.
“Everyone under the R7,500 monthly household income threshold will get a 100 percent rebate for property rates and refuse removal, benefiting 192,500 households across Cape Town. Those in residential living units with a property value of R450,000 will also get this benefit,” Mbandezi said.
He further said all residential properties valued at R5 million and under are receiving a R450,000 reduction in the property valuation for rates calculation purposes.
This translates into R450,000 of a residential property valuation not being rated.
Over 700,000 properties are expected to benefit, representing 80% of all properties across the city.
“Customers who have moved from the Lifeline tariff to the Domestic tariff because their properties are now valued at more than R500,000 after the General Valuation (2022) may, however, qualify for rates rebates, indigent or pensioner support. If they do, they could receive their supply at the Lifeline tariff on application,” Mbandezi said.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
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