Rise in water prices since 2018 - Stats SA

Stats SA General Risenga Maluleke released the results of the Non-financial Census of Municipalities (NFCM) 2022 on Tuesday.

The number of consumer units receiving services from municipalities increased between the 2021 and 2022 financial years.

For the period under review, water showed the highest percentage increase (5,9%), followed by sewerage and sanitation (3,7%), electricity (1,7%) and solid waste management (1,6%).

"Those who received water in the number of consumer units that municipalities serviced were 14.488 million in 2021, now they are sitting at 15.338 million in 2022,” said Maluleke.

"The increase is by 5.9%, it is the same with free basic water," he said.

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Maluleke also revealed that there has been an increase in several disadvantage households across the country.

According to 2021/2022 financial year estimates, there were 2,6 million indigent households as identified by municipalities.

This is an increase of 1,8%  compared to the previous financial year.

Of the identified indigents, 2,1 million indigent households benefited from the indigent support system on water, while 1,8 million benefited from indigent support on electricity provided by municipalities.

Maluleke said 1,9 million indigent households benefited from the indigent support system on sewerage and sanitation and 1,6 million indigent households benefited from the indigent support system on solid waste management.

"In terms of all those consumer units that received electricity, there were 12.7 million, they moved up by 1.7% to 12.9 million. Out of the 12.9 million that received electricity, 1.9 million received electricity as a free basic service and when we compare them with 2021, they rose by 4.4% in terms of indigent they moved from 1.7 million in 2021 to 1.8 million in 2022 rising by 6%", he said.