Peak hour electricity price hike coming

Johannesburg’s City Power is set to charge household more for electricity during peak periods in a bid to lessen the need for load shedding. This is according to a report in the Rand Daily Mail.

The “time-of-use” pricing is expected to be implemented from 1 July 2015, and will charge consumers more for electricity usage between the hours of 07h00-10h00 and 18h00-21h00 on weekdays.

To incentive a shift in use from the “peak times”, lower than normal pricing will be charged during off-peak times.

“These evening demand peaks are very expensive for City Power to deal with and are often the cause of overloads and outages,” said City Power managing director Sicelo Xulu.

“The high cost of servicing the demand for power during peak periods is ultimately passed on to the consumer, so any reduction during the peak period from 17h00 to 21h00 typically is of mutual benefit to the consumer, City Power and Eskom generation.”

The new pricing system has already been approved by the National Electricity Regulator of SA.

“Load shedding is a fact of life that we have to contend with for the foreseeable future and we need to explore any conceivable solutions to ensure that we keep the lights on,” said Xulu”