Johannesburg Plans To Add ‘Extra’ Electricity Charge To Bills: OUTA

CIVIL society group OUTA has written a formal objection to the City of Johannesburg’s proposal to include an additional monthly electricity charge.

The proposal is included in the city’s draft budget for 2021/22, and will see a fixed monthly service charge of R230 added to domestic prepaid bills. R460 will be added to the prepaid bills of businesses.

“It has been reported that the city plans to drop this proposed levy, but we have not seen any official confirmation of this,” Outa said.

“It’s the third year that the city has tried to add a monthly surcharge for prepaid electricity users. The previous attempts failed, as they should have. This attempt should fail too.

Outa said that the proposed costs are unreasonable, particularly as prepaid electricity is usually used by lower-income households and SMMEs.  It added that the economic situation facing residents is extremely difficult, particularly after the pandemic lockdowns.