Why electricity bill is still high despite loadshedding

Why do we still have a high electricity bill when we have loadshedding for six hours a day or 180 hours a month?

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ELECTRICITY BILL HIGHER EVEN WITH LOADSHEDDDING

Lungile Mashele, who is an anergy specialist for the Development Financial Institution of the Development Bank of South Africa explains to IOL why having loadshedding does not mean lower electricity bills.

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Mashele says South Africans are paying nearly 20 percent more for electricity than they were paying previously as there was an 18.65 percent increase for Eskom customers in April 2023 and 18.49 percent for majority municipal customers in July this year.

“So you will definitely see a huge jump, even with your best efforts to conserve energy.”

Mashele adds, South Africans think they are not using electricity or are using less electricity during loadshedding, but this is not true as most people defer their consumption to another part of their day.

For example, you might not run the dishwasher at 10am but you’ll run it at 6pm, which is also the evening peak and costs you more.

ALSO READ:WATCH: Eskom’s new plan to deal with loadshedding [VIDEO]

BUY ELECTRICITY ON CREDIT

A telecommunications company known as Blue Label lets South Africans access the recently introduced prepaid electricity top up from anywhere in the country on credit.

Blue Label CEO Mark Levy says airtime has a very similar module to their company and when you go to airtime, they tell you they are prepared to advance you.

Brian Mazorodze, who is an economics instructor at Sol Plaatje University says the service might have two sides and might be a trap for people who are in debt.

According to the SABC, Mazorodze says more and more households are going to be forced into unmanageable debt.

ALSO READ:SA reacts to having the ability to purchase electricity on credit

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