Johannesburg residents and industries can expect an electricity price hike this week. The city has approved Eskom’s electricity tariff hike of 20.6% at its council meeting. City Power’s Managing Director, Silas Zimu, says even though consumers will pay more for electricity, blackouts can be avoided since the city has enough reserves. The tariff would be implemented on August 1. Poor consumers, however, would not be given an additional increase in tariffs and their share would be covered by the city. The more electricity people used, the more they would pay for it by the looks of things. This tariff increase is seen as a way to try encourage consumers to use less electricity.
Silas Zimu also said that the city had brought in gas turbines, so if Eskom asks us to load shed in Johannesburg, we’ll switch on our gas turbines so customers won’t even see that there’s load shedding. Hopefully this is what will happen. It is one thing saying something and it actually happens when Eskom does have a crisis.
This increase in tariffs is not going to be welcomed by many as it will just add onto their ever growing monthly bills. Some would say that it is better to pay more and have electricity than be in a situation where you are continuously having black outs. And why only in Johannesburg? Should tariffs not be increased in all other cities as the electricity crisis is a national problem? Many questions still need to be answered but for now all we know for sure is that we will be paying more for electricity in Johannesburg.
