Nelson Mandela Bay council to decide this week if electricity tariff will rise by 12%
The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality will vote on the metro's proposed budget, which includes a 12% increase in electricity tariffs — along with rises for other municipal services. The discussion, however, comes as the Electricity and Energy Directorate finds itself in dire financial and governance straits, with funding still not forthcoming for repairs to the high voltage supply line, which provides power to a large part of the city.
The Nelson Mandela Bay metro has admitted in its own Integrated Development Plan that it is to present before council this week that electricity outages in the metro are at an all-time high.
Yet the budget for the 2025/2026 financial year proposes that consumers pay 12% more for electricity.
The plan notes that the Average System Interruption Frequency Index, which measures how often the average customer experiences outages, has reached record levels, primarily due to high-voltage events. These are caused by cable faults, theft and vandalism of fibre cables that trigger unnecessary feeder trips. The document also notes that outages last longer, with forced load reductions worsening reliability indicators.
Meanwhile, the metro's Electricity and Energy Directorate is in a financial crisis, operating at a R1.2-billion loss as it struggles to curb illegal connections, vandalism and the collapse of grid infrastructure.
One visible example of municipal inaction is the Grogro informal settlement, where illegal electricity connections stretch across Kragga Kamma Road to a substation. These makeshift cables frequently catch fire.
In a letter shared with residents, ward councillor Margaret de Andrade wrote, 'My office has engaged in numerous meetings with the relevant departments on this matter, and we have received commitments on several fronts. However, to date, there has been no meaningful feedback or coordinated action.
'As one of your officials previously stated, 'I have forgotten about Grogro'.
'If this sentiment reflects the current level of attention, it is deeply concerning and unacceptable given the gravity of the situation.
'Unrest risk imminent'
'This is no longer just an operational issue — it is a volatile crisis. The community is growing increasingly frustrated due to the lack of visible intervention, and tensions are rising. The risk of unrest, fires and harm to both residents and municipal staff is imminent.
'I strongly urge all departments to urgently coordinate and communicate with one another. We need immediate alignment between Electricity and Energy, Safety and Security, Legal Services, Human Settlements and Disaster Management.'
In addition, according to the metro's reports, about 22% of residential electricity meters have been tampered with.
In the proposed budget, it is stated: 'As previously reported to Council, it is important to note that the financial position of the Electricity Service is under immense pressure due to the extent of electricity losses, which impact significantly on the financial sustainability of the municipality. This is supported by the fact that the budget for Electricity Bulk Purchases exceeds the total Electricity Service Charges budget. This means that the Electricity Service, which is a Trading Service, is operating at a substantial deficit, requiring support from property rates.'
The 12% proposed tariff hike still needs approval by the National Energy Regulator, and if granted, will kick in on 1 July.
However, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Denise van Huyssteen said they had not seen the metro's application to Nersa.
This is the first year that Nersa will publish all applications on its website; the metro's application also doesn't appear there.
Van Huyssteen pointed out that the manufacturing industry was the metro's largest electricity consumer (about 59%) and as a result, organised business in Nelson Mandela Bay would like to have more input on the electricity budget.
Van Huyssteen warned that, at the current trajectory, there was a real risk that the municipality might default on its Eskom bulk electricity payments. She noted that if the increase remained capped at 12%, business was unlikely to oppose it.
In 2022, the metro led litigation against Nersa, securing a ruling that the general guideline and benchmarking method the regulator had used to determine increases was unconstitutional. The metro argued that the municipality should be required to show Nersa how much it cost to distribute electricity bought from Eskom.
Van Huyssteen said programmes such as the geyser control initiative should be reinstated, as it had collapsed.
'We want to add that the municipality needs the urgent support of Eskom to fix its infrastructure,' she said.
An additional threat to the metro's electricity security is the temporary repairs to the high-voltage line that collapsed last year.
In April, one of the pylons partially collapsed again, damaging the temporary fix.
Ward councillors Sean Tappan and Dries van der Westhuyzen said earlier this month that there was now a temporary repair to the temporary repair.
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