FROM 1 July, City of uMhlathuze residents will have to pay an average of R1.50 per unit to keep the lights on – a 2.2% hike from the current R1.47 per unit.
The rates will be split into five levels, depending on how fast households consume power.
It will cost only 84 cents per unit for those using less than 50 kilowatts per hour and R1 for between 51 and 350kWh. But the price jumps to R1.50 for usage between 351 and 600kWh, R1.56 for between 601 and 15 00kWh and R1.78 for anything above 1500kWh.
The local municipality’s tariffs are above the benchmark set earlier this year by the National Energy Regulator (Nersa), which proposed boroughs nationwide cap their increases at 1.88% for the 2017/18 financial year.
However, it is still low compared to a previous annual increase cap of 9%.
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