POWER PAYBACK: Overcharged for electricity? Here’s how Nelson Mandela Bay plans to pay you back

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has called for public comment by 2 September on Nelson Mandela Bay’s plan to restore the inclining block tariff and reimburse customers who were overcharged under the flat tariff.

Three weeks after the Gqeberha High Court ordered Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality to scrap its unpopular flat electricity rate, the process of reversing the tariff has moved a step forward, with the metro now setting out how it plans to reimburse residents who were overcharged.

The reversal follows an urgent court application by the DA , which challenged the municipality’s decision to replace the previous inclining block tariff (IBT) with a flat rate from 1 July. Under the IBT, households paid a lower rate for their first 300kWh each month, with higher rates applying as consumption increased.

Prepaid electricity customers are set to receive additional electricity units, while residents who receive conventional municipal bills will have the money owed to them credited to their accounts.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has now invited electricity customers and other interested and affected parties from Nelson Mandela Bay to comment on the metro’s application by 2 September 2026.

The notice and the metro’s application were published on Nersa’s website on 13 August 2026.

Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya confirmed on Thursday, 21 August 2026 that the application had been submitted.

“[The] Municipality remains committed to implementing the High Court Order in a manner that is lawful, transparent, accurate and administratively fair. The Municipality also remains committed to providing affected residents with clear and timely information as the regulatory and implementation processes progress,” Soyaya said.

The application, publicly available on Nersa’s website, sets out how the municipality intends to compensate residents who paid more under the flat tariff introduced on 1 July.

For prepaid customers, this will not be in the form of a cash refund. Instead, the municipality plans to retrospectively recalculate affected electricity purchases and give customers additional units equivalent to the amount they were overcharged.

According to the municipality’s implementation plan, every affected prepaid transaction from 1 July will be recalculated.

The municipality will compare the number of units a customer actually received under the flat tariff with the number of units they would have received under the reinstated IBT.

The difference will then be restored to the customer as additional electricity units.

Customers should therefore not have to submit individual claims for the adjustment.