OUR DEMANDS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1
1. We demand that the City immediately amends the illegal 17.6% it added to
electricity tariffs on 1 July 2023 to the correct NERSA figure of 15.1%. The City
must uphold the Rule of Law, not only when it suits the City, but also where
citizens are affected.

We demand that the City's finance department immediately corrects the erroneous
perception of the Mayor and DA Councilors and educate them about how an electricity
tariff is set.

10% transferred to Rates

40% salaries & overheads
60% Eskom direct
Do employees in the Electricity Department get salary increases of 18.6%?

Did the cost of materials go up by 18.65%? NO. Salaries increase below inflation
and materials on par with inflation. Why was the contribution to rates also
increased by 18 6%?
Therefore: 40% costs increased by around 7%, 60% direct Eskom costs by 18.6%.
This is the correct calculation and reflects the 15.1% set by NERSA.

2. We demand that with immediate effect that the City removes the unregulated 37.6
cents added to each unit we buy and cease to subsidize the rates department by
taking 10% from Electricity revenue.
The Mayor repeatedly says that departments in the City are ring fenced.
So what is this where the Electricity department funds the Rates department to the
tune of 10% of electricity revenue?

We demand that the link to Property Values is entirely abolished and that the
electricity block tariffs are removed and made the same for all non-indigent users.

Pensioners should automatically receive rebates which must include free units
similar to indigent.and the Fixed Charges and Levies should be waived for
pensioners. The long queues and red tape, draining pensioners when they repeatedly
have to reapply for their rebate is shameful.

Linking fixed charges and tariff blocks to property values are a discriminatory
practice. All households should pay a flat rate per kWh and only one block tariff
should exist, doing away with the Domestic and Home User blocks.
We demand that affordability must be the ONLY criteria when setting tariffs.
The City cannot see the public as a source of profit to fund their ambitious
R70 million 2023/24 budget which benefits only a few.

Using the 12 month electricity usage history to qualify for indigent benefits,
should be scrapped. The additional criteria that the applicant MUST have a SASSA
grant to qualify must be scrapped.

Having to pay huge deposits when debt arrangements are made should stop.
Expecting a household that is already drowning in debt to pay a huge deposit only
serves to discourage such households from making a payment arrangement with the
City. Legislation outside municipalities make every effort possible to rehabilitate
defaulting creditors. City of Cape Town policies vilify and only add more hardship.

The continuation of prepaid deduction after an arrangement was made should stop
immediately for all households where this is done.

Cutting a household's water for any reason whatsoever should stop.

Illegal connections should be prioritized and removed and electricity must be
supplied and metered to ALL areas.

Residents who wished to go off the grid should be encouraged and not forced to
pay any fees.
All items on municipal bills should be zero VAT rated.

Streetlights must be switched off during the day to save electricity as this
cost is included in the unregulated portion of the tariff.

Households are given a choice to buy from the City of Cape Town or from ESKOM
directly.

The working class must no longer be exploited to pay for the City's lavish
budget and expenditure on activities which are not directly attributable to service
delivery. The burden of the ever increasing non-service delivery activities of the
City of Cape Town has become intolerable and simply unaffordable forcing many
households into debt and despair

There should be an reward incentive like a small amount of free units if

electricity is used sparingly