Mogale City electricity tariffs: Industrial Medium vs Large

Mogale City bills industrial customers in categories set by supply capacity: Industrial Medium for supply capacity between 100 and 600 kVA, and Industrial Large for supply capacity above 600 kVA. The category depends on the contracted supply capacity, not on the demand the site measures. If your bill shows a contracted capacity above 600 kVA but names Industrial Medium, the site may be on the wrong tariff, and the account holder can ask for the correct category retrospectively with a credit of overcharges.

What changed in Mogale City's tariffs in July 2024?

Before July 2024, Mogale City billed commercial and industrial customers together, on combined categories such as Commercial/Industrial Bulk Large. Those categories were already set by supply capacity. From July 2024 industrial customers have categories of their own: Industrial Medium covers 100 to 600 kVA and Industrial Large covers anything above 600 kVA.

A change like this is a common point for errors. Every account had to be moved to a new category, and a site can land in the wrong one even though its supply capacity has not changed.

Which category should my site be on?

Your category should follow your supply capacity, the kVA your supply is contracted for. That figure appears on the bill. Measured demand is a different number: a site contracted for 620 kVA might regularly measure less than 600 kVA, but its supply capacity is still above 600 kVA, so it falls in Industrial Large.

This matters because the categories are priced differently, and being in the wrong one can mean paying more every month for as long as the error stands.

Which sites are most at risk of being in the wrong category?

The sites most at risk are those close to a boundary: a supply capacity just above 600 kVA, or just above 100 kVA. A site whose measured demand sits below 600 kVA but whose contracted capacity is above it is a particular case, because anyone looking only at measured demand might assume Industrial Medium is correct.

It is also worth confirming that the bill names the right customer type, industrial or commercial, as well as the right size band. In each case the answer starts with the bill: the contracted capacity, the category named on the charges, and whether the two agree with the municipality's own definitions.

Checking costs very little. Leaving an error in place can cost a site every month, and the longer it runs, the larger the retrospective claim becomes and the more bills have to be recalculated to support it.

How do I spot a misclassification on my bill?

Look at two lines together:

1. The contracted supply capacity, which is printed on the bill.
2. The demand basic charge line, which names the category (for example "INDUSTRIAL MEDIUM") and the number of units it is charged on.

If the units charged match a capacity above 600 kVA but the line reads Industrial Medium, the category and the capacity do not agree. Check several months of bills: a misclassification made in the July 2024 change will usually repeat on every bill since July 2024.

Real case: Pioneer Foods Krugersdorp Bakery (in progress)

The Pioneer Foods bakery in Krugersdorp, part of PepsiCo South Africa, has a contracted supply of 620 kVA, which appears on every bill. Before July 2024 it was billed on the Commercial/Industrial Bulk Large tariff. In the July 2024 change it was placed on Industrial Medium: bills from January to April 2026 show an "INDUSTRIAL MEDIUM" demand basic charge on 620 units, with measured demand of 470 to 495 kVA. A supply capacity of 620 kVA is above the 600 kVA boundary for Industrial Large.

Because the error was made in the July 2024 change, the claim runs from July 2024, when it started. Had the site always been billed in the wrong category, it could have asked for a credit going back up to 36 months.

A client letter of 9 July 2026 asks Mogale City to place the site on Industrial Large retrospectively from 1 July 2024 and to credit the overcharges. Augos's analysis estimates the retrospective overcharge at approximately R1,100,000 over 18 months and the annual saving at R735,000 (Augos estimate, ex VAT).

The correction is expected on the October or November 2026 bill. No credit has been applied yet, so these figures remain Augos's estimate rather than a confirmed outcome.

What should I ask the municipality for?

If your site is in the wrong category, the account holder writes to the municipality asking for three things: the correct category, the date it should apply from (for an error made in the July 2024 change, July 2024; for an older error, up to 36 months back), and a credit of the amounts overcharged since then. Including the evidence, the contracted capacity and the category on each bill, makes the request easier to process.

Then follow it through. Acknowledged credits are not always applied promptly. In one Ekurhuleni case, an acknowledged credit had still not been applied a year later, until Augos identified it and prepared the claim. Check each bill until the correction and the credit both appear.

What to check before you apply

• The contracted supply capacity (kVA) printed on your bill.
• The category named on the demand basic charge line, and the units it is charged on.
• Every bill since July 2024, to see how long the category has been wrong.
• Your measured demand, kept separate from the contracted capacity.
• The overcharge, calculated month by month at the correct category's rates.
• Who will follow up until the corrected category and the credit appear on a bill.

Augos manages tariff applications and queries with the utility on the client's behalf, as the client's appointed representative, through tariff optimisation, and checks every bill against measured data and the correct tariff through bill verification.

To find out whether your Mogale City site is in the right tariff category, book a demo or call Augos on 087 093 6174.