For months, the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has been warning against the Ekurhuleni Metro’s flawed power tariff system, which is characterised by inconsistencies, poor planning and inadequate public consultation.
Many of the questions repeatedly put to the Mayor, Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, and the Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Jongizizwe Dlabathi, remain unanswered.
The most pressing problems are:
- Untransparent consultation process: Public meeting schedules are not officially published, and councillors and residents only find out about them incidentally via WhatsApp.
- Contradictory tariffs: The Council’s Schedule 2 tariffs, supposedly adopted, still need to be formally approved by NERSA, raising questions about their legality.
- Unfair charges: New bulk reseller charges have been introduced without consultation, leaving thousands of apartment dwellers with inexplicable and unaffordable bills.
These flaws are precisely why the Freedom Front Plus did not support the budget, and warned at the time that low-consumption households will be paying exorbitant increases while high-consumption clients benefit. Such inequality, combined with a lack of public participation, violates the Municipal Systems Act.
The Freedom Front Plus demands:
- The immediate publication of a full consultation schedule through official channels.
- The disclosure of NERSA’s formal letter approving the 2025/26 tariffs.
- An explanation as to why councillors and residents are kept in the dark about contradictory tariff information.
In the Freedom Front Plus’s view, this is a gross governance failure burdening residents with unfair bills.
The party will take this matter further by escalating it through council mechanisms, posing formal questions, and constantly applying pressure to protect residents from illegal and unaffordable tariffs.
