Joburg to ‘cushion’ residents from tariff hikes
The City of Johannesburg hopes to soften the blow of the increase in tariffs residents through what it terms a “balanced tariff structure”.
The new electricity, water, property rates, refuse, and sanitation tariffs will be enacted on 1 July.
The city says it will hike property rates by 2%, instead of the planned 5%, following a series of meetings with residents
Finance MMC Dada Morero delivered the city’s budget speech earlier this month.
The tabling of the budget had been delayed by the political instability in the metro, which resulted in three mayoral changes since the year began.
“We understand that many households are currently struggling from the high rising costs of services,” said spokesperson Nkosana Lekotjolo.
“The city understands that our residents are battling under low economic growth, unemployment, load shedding and still feeling the effects of Covid-19 pandemic. We want to assure residents that the City has listened to their comments and inputs,”
Lekotjolo says the city is already buying bulk services such as electricity and water at a very high cost.
“The City Power bulk purchases cost for the financial year 2023/24 are budgeted to be about R16.4 billion after the National Energy Regulator allowed Eskom an average tariff increase of 18.65%, which is way above inflation.”
Electricity – increase is 14.97 %
Property Rates – increase is 2%
Water – increase is 9.3%
Sanitation – increase is 9.3
Refuse – increase is 7%
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