Residents will be relieved to hear that the City of Joburg’s R200 fixed charge for residential pre-paid electricity has been scrapped.
The 2020/2021 Budget, Tariffs and the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) officially went into in full effect in July after recent delays by the council. After much public complaints about the rates, the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) took the decision to reduce the initially proposed property rate from 4.9 per cent to 4 per cent. The water tariff dropped from a proposed 8.6 per cent to 6.6 per cent and the proposed 8.10 per cent increase for electricity has been reduced to 6.23 per cent. The City also withdraw the highly opposed proposed fixed charges of R200 for residential pre-paid electricity and the R400 for commercial.
The recent budget approval delay resulted in the billing system being briefly suspended for rebooting to launch a new financial year with the updated tariffs. The delayed system transition into a new financial year, which falls within the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown, saw billing only commence two working days after the Johannesburg Council’s approvals. A statement released by the City said, “Ratepayers are advised that billing for the month of July will subsequently be delayed, and no penalties will be imposed on ratepayers in this regard.” The pre-termination of service notices that were issued since the beginning of the lockdown will also not be executed in-line with the Covid-19 regulations not to cut off municipal services during this period.
The City also said there are currently no municipal agents that have been assigned to the properties of residents to disconnect water or electricity supply. Residents have been advised to immediately report to the police anyone arriving at their properties claiming to be either Johannesburg Water or City Power officials/agents assigned to cut off services during the lockdown period. According to the City, these bogus officials will request a bribe from residents to immediately reconnect them.
The City further appealed to ratepayers who may be struggling to meet their financial obligations that may include payment of municipal accounts to contact the municipality’s Credit Control Department for assistance with suitable relief measures to ensure their accounts remain up to date. The City of Johannesburg Credit Control Department can be reached via email on, creditcontrol@joburg.org.za The full 2020/21 Tariffs Schedule
