The start of many municipalities’ financial year has seen an escalation in tariffs for services including electricity as well as water and sanitation.
The financial year started last week.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) approved a 12.7% electricity tariff hike in 2025, along with changes to how Eskom structures its pricing.
The CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), Wayne Duvenhage, says the latest tariff hikes are putting further financial strain on households because they are way above inflation.
“When we looked at the City of Joburg, if you just go back 15 years, had they increased their tariffs by inflation or less, we would not be in such a bad position. But we are about 30 to 40 percent higher in our tariffs than we should be now. Tariffs have gone up well above inflation and it’s across the country and it’s not good for home owners and property owners.”
City Power tariff hikes to ‘cushion the poor’
Meanwhile, Johannesburg power utility City Power says it will cushion poor, low-income households from paying increased service and availability charges as new tariffs kicked in this week.
City Power customers are now paying an increase of 12.41% for electricity in line with the city’s approved tariffs for the 2025/26 financial year.
However, City Power says the increases will vary per customer category based on usage and tariff structure.
City Power Senior Manager for Pricing and Tariff Structures, Frank Hinda says, “Overall, it will be about 12,41% on average, but various customer categories will see different rates, because this is also driven by our cost of supply studies- that says certain customers contribute in a different way, to the cost of supplying electricity and the pricing should be reflective of that.”
Hinda elaborates in the video below:
