It feels like everyone in Cape Town is having the same conversation these days: just how unaffordable this city is becoming for ordinary residents. We at Daily Maverick want to take a look at some cold, hard numbers to see whether the outrage matches the figures. Do you have old rates and utilities statements from the past decade which you could submit alongside your current ones for a cost comparison? If you’re a tenant who has been living in the same place for a while, can you show us how your rent has increased (or not increased)? All submissions greatly appreciated!
(All submissions will be kept anonymous in our reporting, but please redact any identifying detail from your bills for safety!)
where do we send copies of utility accounts to as data for your survey?
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Hi Sue. You can post them here in the thread or in this form: Cape Town’s housing crisis
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Hi, I’ve completed an analysis of my City of Cape Town bills from the 2015/16 financial year through to 2025/26. I analysed annual data because monthly bills fluctuate based on varying day counts across most line items—likely designed to obscure the true costs and make it harder for ratepayers to track charges. The City also regularly repositions fixed charges on statements and renames them.
Particularly frustrating is their practice of advertising increases using VAT-exclusive figures to minimize the apparent impact. Ironically, the VAT Act requires prices to be displayed inclusive of VAT—a requirement they conveniently disregard.
Key findings:
2016/17: Free water allowance eliminated for most ratepayers
2018/19: Introduction of the Electricity Home User Charge and Water Fixed Basic Charge
The Electricity Home User Charge surged from R150.00 monthly to R390.87 in 2025/26—a 160.57% increase
Examining just the fixed charges on my account: my annual bill climbed from R18,573.30 in 2015/16 to R63,237.50 in 2025/26—a 240% increase. This represents exploitative pricing. No one’s salary has kept pace with such increases, and those who claim it’s justified by rising property values miss the point entirely. Property value doesn’t translate to income or cash flow.
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I also had a look over accounts from 2015 to compare to the latest account for Feb 2026 for two different properties.
Firstly, I must disagree with the notion that the accounts are designed to be confusing or to obscure fees because of the fluctuating day counts. Actual people have to go out to do most of these readings and therefore it is, in its nature, a flawed and precarious system. In more recent years home owners have been able to submit readings via email or the online platform - but this has to be done in time to meet the account deadline.
However, I do agree with you that there are now many more line item charges. I believe this could be where some interesting price hikes are happening - for completely new charges. ie: As an apartment owner with a prepaid electricity meter I was not charged any electricity connection fee in 2018, but now pay R339.89 for a ‘Elec HU Service & wires charge’.
Going out on a limb with this - but perhaps the city is pulling apart the total rates bills for further transparency? For instance we now know how much of what we pay goes towards x vs. y. I now pay R360 for ‘city wide cleaning’. I live in the CBD. My partner has a house in Woodstock and he pays R96.96 for ‘city wide cleaning’ - how this is calculated remains a mystery, as does the ‘wideness’ of the city.