The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg has urged the City Council and City Power to reconsider the newly introduced R200 surcharge for prepaid electricity.
In a statement, the party condemned the 12.7% tariff hike and the additional fee imposed on prepaid customers as unjust and unfair.
The DA warned that this move will disproportionately affect residents, who are already seeing a significant reduction in the value of their electricity purchases due to the surcharge.
DA Joburg Councillor Nicole Van Dyk says residents in the city are bearing the brunt of this tariff.
Van Dyk says, “City Power is currently sitting with a R40 billion overdraft because they are dealing with non-payers. Prepaid is a great incentive to get your money upfront, but now you’re penalizing those people who are paying upfront for the power they are going to be using.”
She adds: “However, there’s still a 12.5 % increase on power, there’s also a 7.7% increase on your water use and a further 5% on refuse. The residents in the city of JHB are constantly asked to be resilient.”
PODCAST | DA Joburg Councillor Nicole Van Dyk’s full interview on SAfm’s First Take:
