A civil society organisation plans to take the City of Cape Town to court over electricity tariff hikes. It says consumers are paying more than they should be, and the money isn’t being used to cover only power supply.
But the city says it got the green light from energy regulator Nersa. The Stop City of Cape Town organisation accuses the city of failing to disclose what it is actually charging consumers. Nersa granted the city permission to increase electricity prices to R1.52 a unit. But the city is charging R1.75.
“The city is transferring 10 percent of the electricity revenue to the rates account and then after they have given 10 percent away, they come back to the public and say they’ve got too little money, they need another levy to cover their costs. The question from the consumer’s side is clearly how can you give 10 percent away and then come back to the public and ask for it again, “ said the organisation’s Sandra Dickson.
The city, on the other, however, says its increases are low, compared with other municipalities.
“We are the first to recognise I think the plight of our consumers and the impact of these price shocks … the Eskom increases of the past decade have resulted in the burden on the economy and the pockets of our consumers,” said Kadri Nassiep, Executive Director of Energy and Climate Change at the City of Cape Town. The metro says the extra revenue is used to cover maintenance in the city.
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Source: eNCA
