GQEBERHA – Nelson Mandela Bay residents awaiting electricity refunds and rebates can expect most outstanding payments and credits to be processed during September, following NERSA’s approval of the metro’s amended tariffs.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa considered the municipality’s application on 7 September and formally communicated its approval on 8 September.

The amended tariff structure applies retrospectively from 1 July, following a Gqeberha High Court order requiring the restoration of the Inclining Block Tariff (IBT) for affected domestic customers.

Electricity refunds to be processed in September

The municipality has reassured residents who have not yet received refunds, rebates or free electricity allocations that they have not been excluded from the process.

“Comprehensive records exist within municipal billing and vending systems to identify consumers who qualify for refunds, rebates or free electricity allocations,” the municipality said.

A coordinated implementation programme involving Revenue Management, Information Technology, Electricity and Energy, Finance and Customer Care is under way to identify, verify and process qualifying transactions.

The municipality expects the bulk of outstanding refund and rebate processing to take place during September.

It has not, however, specified a date by which individual residents will receive their refunds or credits.

It said the timing would depend on the completion of the remaining technical requirements and system validations, as well as the vending platform or payment channel used to purchase electricity.

“Certain vending outlets and payment channels have only recently come online for refund processing, while others are being phased in as implementation milestones are completed,” the municipality said.

Residents do not need to submit separate applications or claims for qualifying refunds or rebates.

The municipality said affected customers were being identified through billing and vending records, with qualifying refunds and credits to be processed automatically once the verification and programming processes had been completed.

NERSA approves amended tariffs

NERSA’s approval applies to domestic tariff categories that were moved from the IBT structure to flat-rate pricing during the 2026/27 financial year.

For indigent domestic prepaid customers, the approved rates range from R2.1424 per kWh for the first 75 kWh to R4.4070 per kWh for consumption above 500 kWh.

For non-ATTP domestic prepaid customers, the approved rates are R3.3593 per kWh for 0 to 300 kWh, R3.9831 for 301 to 500 kWh and R4.4121 above 500 kWh.

For non-ATTP domestic credit customers, the rates are R3.3593 per kWh for 0 to 250 kWh, R3.9831 for 251 to 500 kWh and R4.4121 above 500 kWh.

NERSA did not approve the proposed domestic prepaid basic charge, which remains R0.

The Domestic Time of Use, commercial, industrial, wheeling, Small Scale Embedded Generation and other unaffected tariff categories remain unchanged.

Court order led to electricity tariff changes

The tariff dispute followed the municipality’s decision to replace the IBT with a flat tariff at the start of the 2026/27 financial year.

On 4 August, the Gqeberga High Court granted an order by agreement requiring the municipality to restore the previous domestic tariff structure retrospectively from 1 July.

The order also provides for affected consumers to be credited for additional amounts paid after the tariff change.

The municipality then submitted its application to NERSA for approval of the consequential tariff amendments.

With NERSA’s approval now granted, the municipality is proceeding with implementation.

It must provide NERSA with confirmation of implementation, including details of credits or additional prepaid electricity units allocated to affected consumers, within 30 days of implementation.

The municipality said it remained committed to implementing the court order and ensuring that “no qualifying customer is disadvantaged” during the process.

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