The City of Johannesburg has released for public comment its proposed water, electricity and waste removal tariffs for the 2010/11 financial period, which will begin on July 1.

The city indicated in a statement, released on Thursday, that power tariffs would increase, owing mainly to increases in City Power's bulk purchase costs from Eskom and the Kelvin power station.

The residential increases would be below the average tariff increases of 25% a year for the period from April 1, 2010, through to March 31, 2013, which were granted to Eskom by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) earlier this year. However, businesses faced far higher increases.

Overall, the proposed increases appeared to be higher than the municipal guideline increase of 15,33% approved for implementation by Nersa when it announced the Eskom increases on February 24, 2010.

In fact, Johannesburg was proposing the following power price increase for 2010/11:

• A ‘Lifeline' tariff increase of 15%.
• Single-phase increases of 19%.
• A three-phase tariff increase of 19%.
• An agriculture tariff increase of 24%.
• Business increases of 28,9%.
• And, tariff increases of 28,9% for large power users within the city.

The city would also continue to charge a 2c/kWh demand-side management levy, while indigent households would be allocated between 50 kWh a month and 150 kWh a month.

Councillor Parks Tau said that the step tariff introduced in 2008 would continue to apply and that the city's tariff structure would also continue to seek to incentivise demand reduction initiatives.

Domestic water tariffs, meanwhile, would increase by between 5,8% and 14,6%, rising with usage, while commercial and industrial water charges would rise by more than 14%.

Progressive sanitation tariffs were also proposed, while the city was seeking to increase refuse tariffs by between 6% and 13%, also on a progressive basis, determined by property valuations.

The city has given stakeholders a month to comment on the proposed increases, with the public participation process to end on April 30, 2010.