Durban — Civic organisations have welcomed the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) decision for eThekwini Municipality to drop the proposed 18.9% tariff increases, and stick to the 15.6% the organisation had recommended.
Phoenix Civic Movement (PCM) leader Vivian Pillay said Nersa has ruled that the eThekwini Municipality could not impose the 18.9% increase, but should rather stick to the 15.6% increase the body had recommended.
“The 15.9% is in line with the municipal tariff guidelines increase and tariff benchmarks for the 2023/2024 financial year,” Pillay said.
In its response to Nersa’s recommendations, eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association, which represents residents from Ntuzuma, Inanda, KwaMashu, uMlazi and oThongathi (Tongaat), said the municipality should heed the body’s call.
He said the proposed 18.9% was way out of the residents’ budgets, and they would have been forced to cut out on necessities such as food, shelter, health, education and other emergencies, to afford such high rate increases.
This was in response to the municipality’s proposed tariff increases of 18.9%, the rate hikes that had caused a stir and a huge outcry among civic organisations around eThekwini. The residents labelled the rate hikes as the highest in the country.
The Westville Ratepayers Association (WRA) echoed these sentiments, saying the municipality's unilateral decision-making, without involving the ratepayers, showed the municipality’s poor decision-making. The WRA added that the proposed tariff increases by the City were the highest in the country, and that even “the biggest metros such as the Johannesburg and Cape Town were not asking for so many tariffs from their residents.”
The DA said it was pleased Nersa had rejected the eThekwini electricity tariff increase.
“We have consistently maintained that eThekwini residents cannot be expected to absorb this unreasonable increase for a service they do not receive. eThekwini residents always have to endure inconsistent electricity supply due to infrastructure failure to meet the demand. The DA is vindicated by this decision by Nersa,” DA’s Thabani Mthethwa said.
ActionSA eThekwini caucus leader Alan Beesley said the 3.4% drop in electricity costs would provide some relief for residents and businesses and was a victory for ActionSA.
Should the municipality continue with its proposed increase of 18.8%, it would be in contravention of its licence agreement with Nersa and would be subject to heavy sanctions.
“That the eThekwini Municipality could not convince Nersa of its proposed increase, is evidence enough that the reasons put forward by the mayor, councillor Mxolisi Kaunda, for the high electricity increases had no validity and did not take into account the best interests of the already overburdened eThekwini residents.
“Furthermore, it is extremely worrying for residents and businesses of eThekwini that the municipality was one of only six municipalities out of 257 municipalities across the country that had approved electricity increases above Nersa’s guidelines.
“This clearly demonstrates the uncaring and out-of-touch political leadership running the municipality. It is a pity that the other above-inflation tariff increases (rates, water, sewage etc) that the municipality has passed on to its residents and businesses do not have a regulatory body that approves increases.
“The proposed tariff increases were originally tabled and voted on, ActionSA strongly objected to them and will continue to do so. It is time the residents and businesses of eThekwini are put first,” Beesley concluded.
eThekwini Municipality had not responded to requests for comments by publication time.
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