Residents have recently raised their concerns about the increase in electricity and property rate tariffs, and continuous power outrages.

They shared their grievances on social media, questioning how their monthly payments have doubled.

Some find themselves unable to buy electricity because their accounts are said to be in arrears, while being prepaid customers, while others say their property rates have also gone up.

The community in West Acres and other areas in town are facing continuous power outages.

The City of Mbombela Local Municipality’s (CMLM) spokesman, Joseph Ngala said the reason the tariffs have increased is because of the new financial year.

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“Since the new financial year has started, the amount charged for electricity has increased and a unit costs more than it used to. The public needs to be aware that when you buy electricity more than once in a month, when you go again in that month every time it will cost more than it did the last time,” he said.

One customer said she used to pay R2 200 and now she is paying R4 900 on her account.

“The customer needs to visit our offices so that we can investigate this. We always advise residents to consider using prepaid, because it is easier to see if there are any problems.

“When using an account someone else checks the meter for them, although when using prepaid you buy the electricity yourself. They see how many units they get and they also pay before they get them, so they will be able to monitor everything,” he said.

Ngala said community members who are prepaid customers in arrears need to visit the municipality for assistance.

“It is the first time that I have heard about such a situation, although it is best that they visit our offices so that we can find out what the problem is. The only time that a person could be in such a situation is if they have not paid for their property rates, although if it is not the case, then we will investigate for them,” he explained.

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According to Ngala, CMLM is aware of the power outages. “We are aware of the continued power outage due to a cable fault.

The residents have been experiencing this since Sunday around 20:00.

“Our technicians have been working on the problem since last night. We, however, do not have any time frame as to when power will be restored at this stage. We understand what a difficult position this puts our consumers in. “We will notify them as soon as power is restored,” said Ngala.

In July CMLM issued a statement informing the public that all sectional title property owners within Mbombela jurisdiction must take note that this month’s accounts were not charged property rates due to technical issues.
Ngala said the technical issue was not the reason for the increase and added that the new financial year was the reason for it.