Water guzzlers ‘rewarded’
City’s biggest users given a 70% discount on tariffs while waterwise citizens feel the pinch
WATER restrictions in Cape Town might have been reduced, but water guzzlers were gifted a 70% water discount while those saving water will continue to bolster the City’s coffers.
As of October 1, those who are saving water and using less than 6 kilolitres a month will be spending a mere R7 less per kilolitre, but if you use more than 35kl you will be paying a whopping R700 less per kilolitre.
Added to this, the City’s fixed pipe levy charge of a minimum R56 a month and electricity surcharge of R150 remain in place.
ANC Cape Town leader Xolani Sotashe said the City was robbing the poor and middle class.
“How can you punish those who are saving water the most? How can a system like that work? We should be hammering the water wasters, not the water savers. It is the water savers that have helped the City to avert the worst situation,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Ian Neilson has over the last few weeks called on the national Department of Water and Sanitation to lower restrictions in order to lower the tariffs, but the setting of tariffs is not the responsibility of the national government.
The City tied the tariffs to the restrictions as a punitive measure, but remained ultimately responsible for raising or lowering the costs.
Sotashe said the new tariffs meant very little to the poor and middle class, who would still pay the most.
“A mere R7 less is not going to help anyone. Yet you, the water wasters, get a R700 discount. What will the City do if everyone starts using more than 35kl water a month? This cannot be right. The City is milking the poor, but the ANC won’t stop fighting the City.” The new tariffs are (excluding VAT): 0 to 6kl: Down 26.6% from R28.90kl to R21.19/kl.
6 to 10.5kl: Down 25% from R46kl to R34.43/kl.
10 to 35kl: Down 56% from R120.27/kl to R52.39/kl.
Above 35kl: Down 70% from R1 000/kl to R300/kl.
Those who are saving water will still get punished SANDRA DICKSON Stop COCT founder
Neilson said restriction levels were linked to dam levels, and restriction tariffs were linked to the volume of water used by Cape Town’s residents.
“This means that if the restriction level is reduced, individual water usage is expected to increase as the tariff decreases which enables the City to repair and maintain the water infrastructure,” he said.
Stop COCT founder Sandra Dickson said there was little reason to get excited as the new tariffs meant very little. “The City has been dishonest with residents. They have been underhanded and all they were interested in was their own interests.
“They don’t have the interests of the city at heart. The water wasters still get the biggest discount, but those who are saving water still get punished. On top of that, people have to pay a pipe levy too. The water savers also spent money on grey water systems and have religiously been saving water. This system is only benefiting the wasters,” Dickson said.
Cape Chamber of Commerce president Janine Myburgh said it was unlikely that water use would return to the old levels once the dams were full as businesses and residents had learned to reduce water.