POWER PAYBACK: Overcharged for electricity? Here’s how Nelson Mandela Bay plans to pay you back
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has called for public comment by 2 September on Nelson Mandela Bay’s plan to restore the inclining block tariff and reimburse customers who were overcharged under the flat tariff.
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is set to reimburse electricity customers who were overcharged under a new flat tariff introduced in July of this year. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has invited public comment on the municipality's plan to restore the previous inclining block tariff (IBT) and repay customers by September 2nd.
Three weeks after a Gqeberha High Court ordered the municipality to scrap the flat rate, the process of reversing the tariff has moved forward. The municipality is now outlining how it plans to compensate residents who were overcharged.
Prepaid customers will receive additional electricity units, while those on conventional municipal bills will have the owed money credited to their accounts. Nersa has given the municipality until September 2nd to finalize its application.
The municipality's spokesperson, Sithembiso Soyaya, confirmed the submission of the application and emphasized their commitment to implementing the court order in a lawful, transparent, and fair manner. They also promised to provide clear and timely information to affected residents throughout the process.
For prepaid customers, the municipality plans to retrospectively recalculate affected electricity purchases, giving customers additional units equivalent to the amount they were overcharged. Conventional bill holders will have the owed amount processed as a monetary credit on their accounts.
The municipality's implementation plan proposes restoring the four-block IBT structure for qualifying domestic prepaid customers in the 2025/26 financial year, with a 10.95% annual increase applied to the previous rates. The first 250 kWh will be charged at R3.8533/kWh, the next 250 kWh at R4.5806/kWh, and consumption above 500 kWh at R5.0654/kWh.
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