Joburg’s new tariff increases take effect
The City of Johannesburg says its new tariff increases have taken effect this week – reduced from the original proposed percentages “to cushion residents from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent national lockdown”.
The enforcement of the new tariffs comes after the Johannesburg Council recently approved the metropolitan’s 2020/21 Budget, Tariffs and the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) following a delay in the approval of the budget.
The City said it took a decision to reduce the initially proposed property rate from 4.9% to 4%, the water tariff dropped from a proposed 8.6% to 6.6% and the proposed 8.10% increase for electricity has been reduced to 6.23%.
Meanwhile, the City said it also took a decision to withdraw the proposed fixed charges of R200 for residential pre-paid electricity and the R400 for commercial.
The business rate ratio has been reduced from 1:2.6 to 1:2.5.
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.
“Therefore, 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 the period,” it said.
Read: Joburg and Cape Town hike tariffs as consumers buckle under coronavirus pressure