The FF Plus finds it unacceptable that the households in the eThekwini Metro Council (Durban and surrounding areas) that opt to use renewable energy, but are still connected to the Metro's back-up power system, have to pay more for electricity.
On the 1st of July, electricity tariffs in the eThekwini Metro will increase with 14,56%, but consumers of renewable energy who make use of, among other things, solar panels will have to pay even more for electricity.
According to the Metro Council, it will lose R1 billion in revenue if people turn to renewable energy sources.
The Metro Council is making a mockery of President Cyril Ramaphosa's commitment to increasingly make use of environmentally friendly renewable energy and is letting the opportunity to become independent of Eskom and be free of load shedding slip through its fingers.
The FF Plus has always held the view that the country needs to move away from those energy sources that destroy the environment, that renewable energy must be prioritised and that households and businesses that convert to alternative energy sources must be given tax incentives and must certainly not be penalised with tariff hikes.
This is a very serious matter in the FF Plus's eyes because a community that can generate its own energy is one that is liberated from the constraints of an incompetent government.
