Implementation of The Nersa Approved Electricity Tariff

The Municipality will implement a change in tariffs for various service charges as well as implementing new payment methods such as Easy Pay and ways to access your statement on a monthly basis.

INCREASE IN TARIFFS:
The budgeted and approved increases for refuse, water, sewer and property rates is 7%. The final Nersa (National Energy Regulator of South Africa) approved tariffs for electricity is as follows:

The Municipality will be implementing the high season tariff for domestic conventional customers for the months of July, August and September and a low season tariff for the months from October to June. This in line with the regulatory body’s final approval letter.

The Municipality had budgeted a general increase of 9.4% for electricity however the Nersa approved tariffs range from 5.4% – 9.4%.

The increase relating to metered consumption i.e. water, electricity and sewer will be effected from 1 July 2016 and will be reflected on your August statement. We levy in arrears and therefore the consumption reflected on the August statement relates to the readings taken in the month of July hence the increase in tariffs for metered consumption being in August.

The increases relating to the fixed charges (basic electricity), property rates and refuse will be effected on 01 July 2016 and will be reflected on the July statement of account.

The Municipality will also be implementing a surcharge of 20 – 30% on water consumption above 20Kl as per the Government Gazette (number 39860 published on 24 March 2016). This surcharge will continue for the period until Kwa-zulu Natal is declared drought free meaning the Surcharge continue until we are no longer experiencing a drought.

Consumers are therefore encouraged to use water wisely and report leakages and faulty water meters immediately Water Department on 0860 144 144.

The effect of the above mentioned increases is shown in the example below:
Refer to excel spreadsheet.

ACCESSIBILITY OF MONTHLY STATEMENTS
Monthly statements are available from the 25th of every month. We acknowledge that customers maybe receiving their statements late from the post and in some cases after the due date. The South African Post Office is experiencing some problems and we as a Municipality will be in engaging with them to address the issues.

Customers can access their statements at the following platform:
• Access the Newcastle Municipality website
• Log onto our portal (e-Newcastle)
• Complete the registration details which will give you an option to have the statements emailed to you, click on this option and enter the relevant email address. You will then automatically receive your monthly statement via email.
• Should you not have an email address you may still register on the portal and you will be able to view your statement.

We are continuously developing new and innovative methods of improving our service delivery to the community and this is one of those methods. All consumers currently receive their monthly account via the sms system. Please assist us to ensure that we have your correct cellular number on our database.

You can contact the credit control unit or enquiries services on the following numbers to update your details:
• 034 328 7799/7679/7861/7860/7748
• 034 940 0440 (NICS)

METHODS OF PAYMENT
The community of Newcastle are able to make payment in the following manner:
• Cashiers at the Municipality
• First National Bank
• Online banking
• EasyPay

We are proud to have the EasyPay payment option available to the community. You will receive the EasyPay number( 20 digits number) on your monthly account or on the monthly sms notifying you of the amount owing on your account. Please note that the EasyPay number is different to the account number. The EasyPay number will not change monthly therefore customers are encouraged to store this number on their cell phones for easy reference when effecting payment at a participating stores.

The following are EasyPay participating outlets:
• Pick n Pay
• Checkers
• Shoprite
• Woolworths

PREPAID ELECTRICITY
Prepaid electricity will also attract the low and high season tariff and is increased at 7.64% across all blocks.

Prepaid electricity can be purchased at the following outlets:
• Cashiers at the Municipality
• Caltex garage ( Lennoxton)
• Caltex garage ( Barry Hertzog Park)
• Caltex garage (Kwamatukuza)
• Spar (Taxi City)
• EasyPay outlets as per above