GQEBERHA – The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s 2026/27 electricity tariff changes have been halted in the interim after the Gqeberha High Court granted urgent relief in an application brought by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its mayoral candidate, Retief Odendaal.

The relief was granted by agreement between the applicants and the municipality in court today.

According to the draft order, the municipality must reinstate the inclining block tariff (IBT) that applied to domestic consumers during the 2025/26 financial year and incorporate it into the 2026/27 electricity tariff structure.

The order, granted by Justice Bulelwa Pakati, states that the tariff changes must be implemented retrospectively from 1 July. Affected consumers must also be credited for any amounts due to them as a result of the changes.

Speaking outside court after the order was granted, Odendaal said the municipality had agreed to settle Part A of the application, which dealt with the urgent interdict.

He said the order meant the municipality would revert to the previous tariff structure, before the 10.95 % tariff increase which came into effect on 1 July.

“This means that there will be more money in the pockets of people almost immediately and I think that was the important part,” he said.

The DA mayoral candidate described the outcome as a victory for residents.

“This is not a victory for the DA, it is a victory for the people of Nelson Mandela Bay. I want to make it very clear that we will not allow the chaos in council to be passed on to the people of Nelson Mandela Bay. They cannot be allowed to pay for the dysfunctionality in the municipality,” he said.

Odendaal also claimed that the municipality’s electricity department was running at a R1.5 billion loss.

“Why must the people of Nelson Mandela Bay pay for those losses?” he asked.

He said residents could not afford further increases in electricity costs.

“People can’t afford to pay more for electricity. They could hardly afford the 10% increase,” he said.

The order relates only to Part A of the application, which sought urgent relief. Part B will be dealt with on the ordinary court roll next year.

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