Power price hike: protesters see red
HUNDREDS of Capetonians rallied outside the civic centre at the weekend to protest against increased electricity tariffs in a movement that has been gaining momentum since the City’s last price hike in July.
Members from the Cape Coloured Congress (CCC) along with civic organisation Stop COCT and activist group Electricity Tariffs Must Fall, gathered on Saturday calling on the City to reduce “predatory levies” that were behind high tariffs, they said.
While the organisations said no one from the City came out to collect their memorandums, the City in a statement said it does everything in its power to keep tariffs as affordable as possible to cover the cost of providing the services.
CCC regional organiser, Faye Ali Adams, said: “The City is failing our communities, we are suffering and the electricity prices are killing us. Our people continue to be forced to live in squalor and conditions of deprivation, and exploited by the City’s high electricity tariffs. Eskom has increased its costs by 17%. This does not justify the extra R0.29c that the City added to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) approved increases.”
The party called for the price per unit to be reduced, for nothing to be deducted from households that made payment arrangements and that the Lifeline User Block 1 usage be increased to 600kwh.
“We also demand to know what services the R0.29c increase per unit is being used for. We demand to know, if the above changes were adopted, what the deficit would be, if any,” the CCC’s memorandum stated.
Stop COCT founder Sandra Dickson said they would not stop until there was change.
“There were hundreds of people but the City never came. How can they expect us to listen to them if they don’t listen to us? Why are they charging 29 cents over and above the energy regulator’s approval? Eskom is cheaper in Eskom supplied areas, no other metros or Eskom overrides Nersa’s approved tariffs.”
The City maintained that its lowest tariff level was the cheapest among the metros.
“The fixed part of the electricity and water tariffs forms part of the overall tariffs. This is not only the case in Cape Town but also in the rest of the country, as it ensures that income is stable, irrespective of how much or how little is used. Some 27.4% or 163 335 of the City’s average residential customer base is on the Lifeline tariff. This is among the highest proportion of households receiving help for any metro in South Africa,” the City said.
Mayco member for finance Ian Neilson there are multiple factors that come into play in the determination of the tariff costs. “Reducing the price (or not increasing the price as much) for any one customer category has a resultant knock-on effect for some other customer category, and these impacts must also be considered.”