City Power prepaid deduction will disproportionately affect the poor, says expert
An energy analyst doesn’t believe City Power’s new prepaid electricity deductions will only impact middle- and high-income earners.
The R200 monthly fee, introduced on 1 July, is meant to cover network and service charges, according to the utility.
Chris Yellend, the managing director and Energy Analyst at EE Business Intelligence, says there is a lot of misinformation put out by City Power.
"The reality is that this is a tariff that is applicable for prepayment meters, the vast majority of whom are poor and indigent customers," said Yellend.
“I am deeply disturbed by the misinformation that City Power Johannesburg is putting out about this new tariff. They are putting out the information that this new tariff is for medium- and high-income residential users. That is not the case.”
“This is targeted at prepaid electricity users, who are predominantly poor and indigent in the city.”
Yellend said the poor who are not on the city's indigent register will end up suffering the most.
"The vast majority of indigent customers are not on the indigent register, and the vast majority of people who have prepayment meters in the city of Johannesburg are the poor. They are not middle class, and they are not wealthy.
"This is made up of what is called a service charge, which is applicable for meter reading, etc. Not that I understand why it should be charged at all because these are prepayment meters. They don't have meter readers.
“Then there are so-called network charges, that is, a charge for connecting you to the network and for providing you an electricity supply."
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