In presenting the budget, City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced increases to various municipal tariffs. The City of Cape Town’s service increases are also part of the budget.

• Rates increase by 5.2%,
• Refuse tariffs will increase by 5%
• Water and sanitation tariffs will increase by 5%, (1.5%  to expand access to water to residents in informal settlements)
• Electricity tariffs will increase by 9.5%

Hill Lewis says: “Because of Eskom’s 9,61% increase, we are bound to a 9,5% increase in electricity tariffs this year — our only tariff increase that is substantially above inflation. An increase over 9% is painful, Speaker, and one that every metro in the country that has tabled its budget so far has had to make.”
He adds: “Eskom’s unacceptably high increases in electricity prices are one of the two main reasons why we are so aggressively pursuing our independent power procurement programme.”

The mayor says the municipality must do everything they can to keep the lights on and be flexible with its budget: “This will allow us to purchase electricity at a far lower rate than that offered by Eskom, and pass this saving on to our customers. We are making substantial investments to do more for energy security in Cape Town. We are busy creating the country’s most reliable and most affordable electricity supply.”

He adds: “R3,8 billion is set aside for capital expenditure in energy over the medium term. We are also spending R48 million in our initial push to end load shedding. And R45 million over the next three years to enable and incentivise residents to self-generate and sell their excess energy to the City.”

Our first budget makes big progress on our pledges. We are on our way to ending loadshedding over time, making Cape Town safer and providing dignity by investing in pipe replacement and sanitation. pic.twitter.com/gEad1LA6nU

— Geordin Hill-Lewis (@geordinhl) April 1, 2022

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says: “This is a caring budget that does more to support those without the opportunities to help themselves.”

“Our social package amounts to R3.75 billion, which includes R1.4 billion in rates rebates and R2,3 billion for indigent relief. This will ensure that Cape Town continues to have the broadest free basic services reach of all the metros, with 40% of households receiving free basic water and sanitation, and 27% benefitting from free electricity on the lifeline tariff,” says Hill-Lewis.

• R424 million is set aside for investment promotion
• R181 million is budgeted for direct economic incentives to attract jobs and investors to Cape Town.
• R53 million is budgeted for upgrades to informal trading infrastructure and to improve the efficiency of permitting systems.
• R55 million is allocated to our Jobs Connect and Cape Employment Accelerator programmes