Just as motorists were breathing a small sigh of relief over Wednesday’s fuel price cut, the ANC-led Tshwane Council implemented its annual tariff increase, which kicked in on the same day (July 1, 2026).
For many residents already frustrated with the ongoing service delivery failures in the area, the timing could not have felt more ironic. While a few Rands off the petrol price might ease the pain at the pump, it does little to soften the blow of steeper water, electricity and property rate bills, especially in a community that has spent years dealing with low water pressure and supply interruptions blamed on low reservoir levels in Region 4, water leaks that are unattended to for weeks, sinkholes that are left open for years, streetlights that residents say have remained faulty for years despite repeated complaints to the Council, amongst many others.
The new tariffs are as follows:
- Property rates – up 5%
- Electricity – up 8,8%
- Water – up 10%
- Sanitation – up 5%
- Refuse removal – up 4,1%
Many residents have told the Laudium Sun that they find the water tariff increase especially hard to accept as the area frequently deals with water supply issues, ‘We’ve been dealing low pressure and even days with no water at all because of problems at the reservoir. Now they want to charge us 10% more for a service we can barely rely on. It doesn’t make sense.’
Other residents said the electricity hike was a similar story. ‘Our streetlights have been off for years. We report it, we get a reference number and then nothing happens. Meanwhile our electricity bill just keeps climbing. Where is the improvement to match these increases?’