By Levy Masiteng
The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) has called on the City of Johannesburg (COJ) to urgently reassess its electricity tariffs, citing a glaring disparity between prepaid and postpaid customers.
According to SAPVIA, the current tariff structure is neither fair nor cost-reflective, with postpaid customers paying as much as seven times more in fixed charges than those on prepaid.
An analysis by SAPVIA’s Residential PV Working Group revealed that prepaid customers pay a fixed monthly fee of R230, while postpaid customers are charged R1,615.
“A customer on postpaid using 900 kWh—the average household consumption—will be paying over R1,000 more than a prepaid customer using the same amount,” the association said.
SAPVIA’s assessment is based on three key principles: cost-reflectivity, fairness and equity, and efficiency.
The association argues that the City’s current tariff structure fails on all three fronts.
“It cannot be deemed fair that a user on postpaid pays seven times more in fixed fees than a user on prepaid,” SAPVIA said.
“The differentiation simply amounts to unfair discrimination.”
Furthermore, the association pointed out that COJ’s postpaid users are charged the highest fixed fees in the country, while its prepaid users pay among the lowest.
A comparison with other municipalities and Eskom further illustrates the imbalance.
In Tshwane, customers with embedded generation pay R303; in Cape Town, R391; and Eskom’s Homepower 4 customers pay R423.
By contrast, Johannesburg’s postpaid customers are charged R1,615.
SAPVIA has recommended that the City eliminate the disparity between prepaid and postpaid customers and move toward a more equitable tariff structure.
While the association stopped short of proposing a specific figure, it noted: “The recent NERSA decision on Eskom tariffs tends to indicate that the true level should be significantly closer to R230 than R1,615.”
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