Ratepayers Revolt has some questions about the recent announcement by Ndlambe Municipality of electricity charges for solar users in Ndlambe. We are surprised that there was no public consultation and that the municipality has threatened disconnections.

Question 1: Solar Installation and Costs

Did ratepayers primarily install solar panels to comply with government requests to address the challenges posed by load shedding? Was this a significant financial investment for them?

Question 2: Cost Reflectivity Principle

Should electricity charges be directly linked to the actual costs incurred by the municipality in providing the service?

Question 3: Costs for Solar Customers

Are the costs incurred by the municipality for servicing a ratepayer with a solar installation and no grid feed-in the same as those for a ratepayer without solar panels? Specifically, are the costs for physical infrastructure, amperage capacity, and kilowatt-hour consumption unchanged?

Question 4: High Capacity-Charge and Minimum Capacity Requirement

Is the decision to impose a high capacity-charge and a minimum 30-amp capacity requirement, leading to a substantial increase in charges compared to non-solar customers, motivated by cost reflectivity?

Question 5: TOU Metering Motivation

Is the decision to force solar customers on to time-of-use (TOU) metering driven by cost-reflective principles?

Question 6: High Basic Charge

Is the imposition of a high basic charge, significantly exceeding cost-reflective levels, a direct consequence of forcing customers on to TOU metering?

Question 7: R5000 Meter Cost

Is the requirement for a R5000 meter directly linked to the implementation of TOU metering?

Question 8: Council’s Motivation

Is the council’s decision to impose unreasonable service charges and contractual conditions on solar customers a strategic move to protect its monopoly on service provision?