Joburg residents urged to power down before the grid does As Joburg braces for a bite of winter’s chill, City Power is sounding the alarm — not just about the cold, but the real risk of unplanned power outages if electricity demand continues to surge. With temperatures expected to plunge to 5°C and below, thousands […]

Ekurhuleni Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza has temporarily suspended a controversial electricity tariff increase for the metro,  following protests by residents in Tembisa over a R126 fixed charge. Speaking to a crowd of residents who had taken to the streets in protest outside Rabasotho Hall, Xhakaza acknowledged their frustration. “It had been painful since last night and […]

South African households pay 83.4% more for electricity than big businesses, while small businesses are charged even higher tariffs, according to data from GlobalPetrolPrices.com. The website regularly analyses and compares energy prices in roughly 150 countries using information from official sources, including Eskom and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. As of December 2024, it […]

East London is South Africa’s most expensive city for prepaid residential electricity, according to an analysis by MyBroadband. The latest municipal electricity tariff adjustments came into effect on 1 July 2025, following approval by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa). We compared the new electricity prices of 13 local authorities, including all the […]

Over the last two months, no fewer than six Soweto communities have complained of lengthy electricity cuts caused by infrastructure damage and cable theft. Communities across Soweto have staged repeated protests in recent weeks as load reduction, cable theft and infrastructure challenges have led to repeated power cuts.  The latest protest over random power outages […]

Johannesburg residents have been given some relief after power utilities Eskom and City Power reached an agreement to resolve their long-running electricity debt dispute. Earlier this year, Eskom threatened to cut power to the City of Johannesburg and City Power over an unpaid bill of R4.9 billion, plus R1.4 billion in current charges. City Power however had consistently disagreed with […]

Eskom’s unplanned outages averaged 14,738 MW over the last week, well above its base case of 13,000 MW for the 2025 winter period. This was revealed in an update on Eskom’s system on Friday, 13 June 2025, in which it showed the latest performance data. Eskom said its power system remains stable and continues to […]

City Power has issued an urgent appeal to Johannesburg residents and businesses to reduce electricity consumption as freezing temperatures sweep across Gauteng, threatening to overwhelm the city’s power infrastructure and trigger widespread outages. The utility company warned on Monday that excessive electricity usage during the current cold snap could cause localised network overloading, particularly in […]

Many South Africans living in multi-dwelling properties are getting substantially higher electricity price increases than Eskom Direct and municipal customers. Eskom Direct customers received a 12.74% average electricity price increase from 1 April 2025. The power utility also received approval to increase municipal bulk electricity fees by 11.32% from 1 July. The actual increases applying […]

As South Africa’s energy system becomes increasingly digitised, the country’s electricity sector has become a high-value and vulnerable target for cyberattacks. Protecting South Africa’s grid against cyberattacks is now as important as physically securing power stations, and electricity smart meters in the country are particularly vulnerable. Cybersecurity platform KnowBe4 recently warned that cyberattacks are rising […]