City Power New PrePaid Tariff 2024/25

[Jaybabe]

Hi, City Powers new prepaid tariff now includes a monthly service and capacity charge. I assume this only applies to grid tide prepaid uses. I have a prepaid meter but don’t use it as we are off grid so assume we won’t have to pay the capacity and service monthly fee. Does anyone know?

[Scorp007]

2 hours ago, Jaybabe said:

Hi, City Powers new prepaid tariff now includes a monthly service and capacity charge. I assume this only applies to grid tide prepaid uses. I have a prepaid meter but don’t use it as we are off grid so assume we won’t have to pay the capacity and service monthly fee. Does anyone know?

Not paying the fee means they can come and remove the meter. 

Interesting question

[Dman]

The concern is that the R230 peronth keeps adding up if you don't pay. What if in 10 years they force us to settle this?

I normally only use R100 per month, but now to pay the R230 I need to load over R500 per month for them to subtract the fee (they only take half the fee if the recharge is below this).

What do I do with the unused kWh I pay for and never use?

The only solution is if the outstanding fees do not roll over to the next month, but info on whether this is the case are contradictory.

Does anyone know?

[Bobster.]

On 2024/07/01 at 5:39 PM, Jaybabe said:

Hi, City Powers new prepaid tariff now includes a monthly service and capacity charge. I assume this only applies to grid tide prepaid uses. I have a prepaid meter but don’t use it as we are off grid so assume we won’t have to pay the capacity and service monthly fee. Does anyone know?

The fixed fees are for having a meter, you pay per unit for the useage. They apply to any non-idigent household that has a pre-paid meter, whether or not you have solar.

Remember that the new tariffs kicked in July 1st, so the unit cost of electricity has gone up, so even if there were no flat fees you'd be paying more than R100.

AIUI the minimum purchase now is R400 a month.

R200 will settle the fixed fees.
The rest goes to units and VAT for fees and units. The VAT on the fixed fees will be R30.

I am going to buy as soon as I get my statement, so I will be able to confirm then.

Also AIUI the fixedfees can't be rolled over for more than one month. But if you try to buy every 2nd month you will be spending R800 every second month. So no saving.

[Bobster.]

23 hours ago, Dman said:

What do I do with the unused kWh I pay for and never use?

They will accumulate your on your meter. City Power say you shouldn't bank a lot of units on your meter. This is why if they have to replace your meter there is a cap on the credit they will carry from the old meter to the new.

In my experience they don't take a credit away or even moan about it (I had 1000s of units accumulated on my old meter), but if they have to change your meter they will have no mercy.

If my calculations are correct, a purchase of R400 a month will settle the new fixed charges and leave you with 60 odd units. If you don't use the 60, the balance remains on your meter (but you will still have to buy for R400 next month). The upside of this is that if we if have a spell of overcast weather (and one always comes along) then you have credit on your meter that you can use.

[Dman]

23 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

They will accumulate your on your meter. City Power say you shouldn't bank a lot of units on your meter. This is why if they have to replace your meter there is a cap on the credit they will carry from the old meter to the new.

In my experience they don't take a credit away or even moan about it (I had 1000s of units accumulated on my old meter), but if they have to change your meter they will have no mercy.

If my calculations are correct, a purchase of R400 a month will settle the new fixed charges and leave you with 60 odd units. If you don't use the 60, the balance remains on your meter (but you will still have to buy for R400 next month). The upside of this is that if we if have a spell of overcast weather (and one always comes along) then you have credit on your meter that you can use.

Thanks Bobster. Yes, that makes sense, but I rarely use anything over 30 units per month, so each year I'll have 300 units spare which I'll never use. 

The ideal (as I am happy-ish to pay the fixed fee) is a way I can just pay the R200 a month fee seperately.

The alternative is I load R200 each month. Then they will apparently only deduct R100 for the fixed fee and give me R100 in units. This is because for small recharge amounts they only put half toward the fixed fee. May be an option?

[Bobster.]

2 minutes ago, Dman said:

Thanks Bobster. Yes, that makes sense, but I rarely use anything over 30 units per month, so each year I'll have 300 units spare which I'll never use. 

The ideal (as I am happy-ish to pay the fixed fee) is a way I can just pay the R200 a month fee seperately.

The alternative is I load R200 each month. Then they will apparently only deduct R100 for the fixed fee and give me R100 in units. This is because for small recharge amounts they only put half toward the fixed fee. May be an option?

It's R200 + VAT per month. I too was hoping that this would be a line item on the statement, then I could pay that and manage my meter as I always have. The problem is that they didn't communicate that the fixed fees would be recovered from your purchases.

In the example you give, they would take R100 + VAT towards the fixed fees, and give you units + VAT for the R85 that remains. But you will be R115 in arrears, and your arrears will grow each month.

[Scorp007]

14 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

 But you will be R115 in arrears, and your arrears will grow each month.

Also becoming a bank. Charging a higher interest rate than they pay on their debt? on your outstanding amount. 

[Dman]

On 2024/07/04 at 4:09 PM, Bobster. said:

It's R200 + VAT per month. I too was hoping that this would be a line item on the statement, then I could pay that and manage my meter as I always have. The problem is that they didn't communicate that the fixed fees would be recovered from your purchases.

In the example you give, they would take R100 + VAT towards the fixed fees, and give you units + VAT for the R85 that remains. But you will be R115 in arrears, and your arrears will grow each month.

That's true. My idea is to keep paying on month late. So in August I pay R230 first, so the full fee for July is paid (if the system does this), and then top up with another R200, which will give me R85 in units, then repeat the next month. 

I'll test it and post the results

[slipx]

I suppose if you only want to pay the fixed fee you would need to pay for each month in arrears i.e. R230 in August for July, R230 in September for August etc.