GOOD Statement by Anton Louw,
GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
21 August 2024
Executive Mayor Ald Geordin Hill-Lewis
City of Cape Town By Email
Dear Mayor Hill-Lewis
GOOD CHALLENGES MAYOR HILL-LEWIS TO DEBATE ELECTRICITY CHARGES IN THE CITY
Last week the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Kevin Mileham wrote to the Speaker requesting an urgent Parliamentary debate on the increasing cost of electricity.
As GOOD, we fully support this debate.
However, we find it strange that the DA is fighting this at a national level, while the same party, your DA, defied NERSA and charged more than the approved increases for both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years.
Unless your party, the DA, is unaware of what is going on in their own municipalities, the party’s hypocrisy is astounding.
For the 2022/23 financial year, the NERSA-approved guideline increase was 7.47%, yet the City of Cape Town implemented a 9.6% hike. The next year saw NERSA approved 15.1%, while the City went ahead with a 17.6% increase.
The City of Cape Town is the only metro that charges above the NERSA guidelines.
In both cases, the municipality’s application to apply for an increase above the NERSA guideline was dismissed, and the City continues to spend millions on legal costs fighting these illegal increases in court without any success.
During mediation, NERSA reiterated its reasons for the decision on the City’s application and made it clear to the City that its implementation of unapproved increases was unlawful.
The City therefore has to reimburse the public for their electricity purchases, which would now include another year of illegal charges.
We had a mathematician calculate the overcharge for the 2022/23 financial year and this City owes electricity consumers a staggering R329 701 976 for that year alone.
GOOD therefore challenges you to an urgent and open public debate on this matter.
We look forward to your response.
Yours faithfully,
ANTON LOUW
GOOD councillor in the City of Cape Town.
Media Enquiries:
Janke Tolmay, GOOD Media Manager
Cell: 073 367 1223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za
Anton Louw, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
Cell: 082 377 3335
Email: anton@cisfs.co.za