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CT set for 15% power price hike
27/03/2008 14:53 - (SA)
Cape Town - Cape Town residents face an average 15% hike in electricitytariffs in the coming financial year, according to the city's draftbudget released on Thursday.
And this figure could still rise.
Mayoral committee member for finance Ian Neilson said electricity was the largest of the increases in charges in the draft budget.
Water would go up by 9.2%, and residential rates by 7.3%.
The low consumption tariff would rise by 13%, and the high
consumption tariff by 20%.
He said the city was not immune to the "folly" of Eskom, which
supplies it with bulk electricity, and which was at the end of lastyear granted a 14.2% tariff hike.
There were practical limits on how much the city, faced with the
need to upgrade its own electricity infrastructure, could soften theburden on poor people.
Neilson also warned that the city faced the risk that people hardpressed by higher electricity costs might start defaulting on rates and service charges.
Mayor Helen Zille said the hike was "based on Eskom's demands, not ours".
With the utility's recent appeal for a further increase of 53%, the Cape Town tariff "may still have to be adjusted accordingly", she said.
- SAPA
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