Consumers cut back on food to stay out of the dark
More and more South African households are being forced to cut back on groceries and transport just to keep the lights on.
This is according to a recent survey by Debt Rescue.
It looked at how consumer spending habits have shifted in light of the electricity price hikes.
Earlier this year, NERSA approved Eskom’s application for a 12.7% electricity tariff increase for the 2025/26 financial year.
The first took effect at the beginning of April for customers supplied directly by Eskom.
Another will be implemented in July for consumers who get their electricity supply from municipalities.
Debt Rescue's Annaline van der Poel says a staggering 86% of survey participants reported they were already struggling to afford electricity costs even before the latest price hike came into effect.
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" 79% told us that they rely on prepaid, and they've converted to prepaid and can only load what they can afford. And based on that, they then try and manage as far as they can into the month. But unfortunately, there are many of them, or most of them, are running out of electricity before they reach the end of the month.
"80% told us that they believe that the latest tariff increases are going to severely impact their monthly budgets because of the compounding existing financial strain which is going come during the colder the winter month, which is the time where we generally tend to use a bit more electricity."
Van der Poel says many households will also feel the pinch when the 0.5% increase in VAT comes into effect in May.
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