Nelson Mandela Bay Challenges Electricity Tariff Ruling; Seeks Repayment of Rebates

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is challenging the return to cheaper electricity and says residents could have to repay rebates and credits if it succeeds in keeping the R4.50 flat tariff. The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality wants to keep charging residents R4.50 for every unit of electricity they buy, even though a court has ordered it to revert to the previous system, under which the first 300 units of electricity each month were cheaper. Many households ended up paying more when that system was scrapped. The DA took the municipality to court, and on 4 August 2026 the Gqeberha high court ordered the metro to restore the old tariff and credit residents for amounts they had overpaid . The municipality agreed to the urgent order. Now, however, the municipality wants to return to the flat rate. Acting city manager Lonwabo Ngoqo said on Thursday that the municipality would argue its position when the case returned to the high court later in 2026. Ngoqo said returning to the Inclining Block Tariff (IBT), under which the first units of electricity were charged at a lower rate, could leave a hole in the municipality's budget because it was based on the R4.50 flat rate. He was speaking on the sidelines of a postponed Budget and Treasury Committee meeting on Thursday, which could not go ahead because most committee members were absent. Read the full story on Daily Maverick . AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 90 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica . To address comments or complaints, please Contact us . AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa - aggregating, producing and distributing 600 news and information items daily from over 90 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington DC. Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy . We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.