As if the cold wasn’t biting enough this winter, residents are now bracing for another kind of chill — this time in their wallets.
Electricity, water and sanitation tariffs will officially increase from Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
The City of Tshwane has confirmed that the adjustments form part of the approved 2025/26 budget and will see price hikes ranging from 6% to 13%, depending on the service and usage level. These increases apply to both consumption and basic network access charges.
What’s going up?
Electricity rates will increase by 10.2% across all bands:
- 0–100 kWh: from R2.70 to R2.97 per unit.
- 101–400 kWh: from R3.16 to R3.48 per unit.
- 401–650 kWh: from R3.44 to R3.79 per unit.
- Above 650 kWh: from R3.71 to R4.09 per unit.
Water users will see a steep 13% increase in all tiers (excluding the free first 9kl). Households consuming:
- 10–18kl will now pay R32.74 per kl (up from R28.97).
- 31–42kl will rise to R51.03 per kl (from R45.13)
- Access charges will also rise from R163.93 to R185.20 monthly.
Sanitation charges are up 6%:
- 10–12kl will now be billed at R20.13 per kl (up from R18.98).
- Over 42kl, the charge rises marginally from R0.21 to R0.22
- Monthly sanitation access fees go from R97.00 to R103.00.
All prices shown exclude VAT.
Households feeling the pinch
While the City says the adjustments are in line with national energy and water regulator guidelines, local residents are bracing for even tighter budgets.
“This increase might not look big on paper, but when you add everything together, plus VAT, it’s a heavy burden for ordinary families,” one resident told the Laudium Sun.
Many residents say the rising costs would be more tolerable if service delivery was reliable.
“We wouldn’t mind paying more if we had constant power and clean running water,” added one Erasmia resident. “Instead, we sit in the dark, boil water in buckets, and now we must pay more for it?”
With the new tariffs taking effect from next Tuesday, households are urged to monitor their consumption closely and be prepared for higher monthly bills from July onwards.