Major pain hitting households in South Africa next week
South African households will face higher rates and tax tariffs for electricity, water and sanitation, refuse removal and property rates starting from July 1, 2026.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) approved electricity tariff increases of 8.76% for Eskom’s direct customers and 9.01% for municipal customers for the 2026/27 financial year.
This decision adds further pressure on businesses that are already struggling with rising operating and logistics costs.
Durban and surrounds in KwaZulu-Natal, under the eThekwini Municipality, will face the biggest hike in rates and taxes, with electricity tariffs surging to 9%, higher than both Cape Town and Johannesburg.
In addition, water tariffs for eThekwini Municipality will increase by 12%, while refuse removal will increase by 9.5% and sanitation by 8%.
The eThekwini Municipality’s significant tariff increase is attributed to external bulk supply increases from Eskom and uMngeni-uThukela Water, as well as the need to repair and upgrade the city’s ageing and flood-damaged infrastructure.
For Johannesburg residents, electricity has increased by 8.63%, down from 12.7% in 2025/2026. Water tariffs will also increase by 12.5% for Johannesburg residents, while sanitation will increase by 11%.
The City of Cape Town will see a 6.7% increase in electricity tariffs, which the City said is due to the higher cost of purchasing electricity from Eskom (9.01% NERSA increase).
Significantly, Cape Town will face a 10.2% decrease in the Residential Rate-in-the-Rand applied to property rates.
The city will also face a 4.5% increase in water and sanitation tariffs, which are grouped together.
The City of Cape Town said that the increase in water and sanitation tariffs is mainly due to the “expansive capital investment costs and demand on key operational items.”
To add to this pressure, consumer price inflation climbed to 4.5% in May, up from 4.0% in April. This increase marks the highest rate since July 2024, when it reached 4.6%.
Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) Southern Africa Regional Managing Director Paul Vos said that energy uncertainty has not disappeared but rather that it has evolved.
“The impact is being felt across supplier networks. Electricity tariffs continue to rise above inflation, while fuel costs remain a major concern for transport, logistics and backup generation requirements,” said Vos.
“This creates a double cost pressure. Suppliers are facing higher energy costs and higher logistics costs simultaneously. As a result, procurement teams are seeing greater pricing volatility, more requests for contract adjustments and increased pressure on budgets,” he said.
Below is a table that shows the changes in tariffs for 2026/2027 for each major metro.
| Rate | Joburg | Cape Town | eThekwini | Tshwane |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity | 8.6% | 6.7% | 9.0% | 8.8% |
| Water | 12.5% | 4.5%* | 12.0% | 10.0% |
| Sanitation | 11.0% | 4.5%* | 8.0% | 5.0% |
| Refuse removal | 6.2% | 3.8% | 9.5% | 4.1% |
| Property rates | 3.6% | -10.2% | 2.0% | 5.0% |
*Note: The City of Cape Town considers a collective increase of 4.50% for water and sanitation as they are grouped together.
City of Ekurhuleni late to the party
One of the biggest metros in Gauteng, the City of Ekurhuleni, has now also passed its budget, laying out the rate changes residents can expect.
After failing to pass its budget three times before, the city council finally managed to pass the budget with the support of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and ANC this week.
This came with significant concessions from the ANC to get the DA on board.
According to the DA, the concessions include:
- Reducing property rate increases to just 1.5% – among the lowest in South Africa.
- Ring-fencing infrastructure spending so that money cannot simply be diverted away from roads, electricity, water and sanitation.
- Establishing an Electricity Protection Unit to combat illegal connections and electricity theft.
- Publishing monthly service delivery dashboards so residents can measure performance.
- Freezing luxury spending and focusing expenditure on essential services.
- Strengthening consequence management and improving oversight of finances and governance.
The city was running on an exceptionally tight deadline, being required to pass the budget before the new financial year kicks off on 1 July.
The budget carried the following increases for the city:
- Electricity: 9% increase
- Water: 11% increase
- Sanitation: 8.4% increase
- Refuse: 3.4% increase
Before the deal was struck, property rates were expected to increase by 2%, which will now be reduced to 1.5%.
The reduced rate should save residents around R74 million, against the overall budget of approximately R70 billion.
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