As you should be aware by now, we are approaching D-day in terms of rate increases, which are subject to take full effect as of the 1st of July, 2019. In this article, we look at how Johannesburg residents will be affected by these increases.
We will also explore some comments coming from a member of the mayoral committee on finance, Funzela Ngobeni, who tabled the proposed and accepted tariff increases. We will roughly explore the numbers below:
| Service | 2019/2020 |
| Water | 9.90% |
| Property Rates | 5.50% |
| Electricity (across board) | 13.07% |
| Refuse | 7.00% |
These above-inflation increases by the City of Johannesburg are set to take effect on the 1st of July, 2019. Ngobeni, commenting on the proposed tariff increases, mentions that every effort is being made by the City of Johannesburg to help residents. According to Ngobeni, plans are being made to mitigate the effect of these increases on the poor.
He goes further to say the city will be giving households without any formal income 15 kilolitres of free water a month and 150 kilowatt hours of electricity. Lower levels of allocations will range between 10 kilolitres of free water a month and 12 kilolitres of water provided without charge to other vulnerable city residents. This is exclusive of the free basic electricity already given to residents who qualify under the life-line tariff.
The City of Johannesburg’s budget for 2019/2020 is R64.5bn.
Departments getting the largest slices of the 2019 operating budget include Joburg Water (R11.5bn); the good governance cluster (R10.6bn); human and social development (R9.5bn); economic growth cluster (R5.7bn); public safety (R5.5bn); group finance (R5.4bn); environment and infrastructure (R2.5bn).