The letter from Mr Adiel Ismail ("LETTER: The City of Cape Town appears to be merciless towards its ratepayers“ October 13, 2022) refers:
The income from rates and tariffs all goes toward the provision of reliable services and meeting the needs of a growing city. Every year, affordability, while at the same time not jeopardising service delivery, is at the heart of setting rates and tariffs.
Cape Town has the lowest rates of the big five metros in South Africa. The value for money in Cape Town is clear if one looks at the sound management of the metro and the high rate of services.
The City has managed to protect its customers from more than 1 100 hours of Eskom’s 1 900 hours plus of load-shedding since February - and for more than 230 hours, Cape Town was the only metro in South Africa that had no load-shedding at all.
The load-shedding protection is also to the benefit of all in Cape Town as it protects critical infrastructure and service provision to all residents.
The Home User Service Charge is there to protect reliable supply of electricity. Even so, it is not fully cost-reflective as it is only approximately half of what it should be. No matter how much or how little electricity is used, it still costs the same to provide the services. Without this charge, the usage component of the tariff would be much higher.
The City’s annual payment ratio is 97% and the City thanks loyal customers and ratepayers for the support as this high ratio indicates, and for those who are unable to pay, there are many options for assistance available.
* Cllr Siseko Mbandezi, Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, City of Cape Town.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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