The annual tariff changes, and what to expect
Municipal tariffs change on 1 July. Eskom changes on 1 April. Both produce a predictable wave of questions, and both mean a short period where cost figures on the platform are incomplete while new rates are loaded. Your consumption and technical data are not affected during that period.
The calendar
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 April | Eskom's annual increase takes effect |
| 1 June | High demand season starts in most of the country (winter rates) |
| 1 July | Municipal increases take effect |
| 31 August | High demand season ends |
| 1 September | Low season rates resume |
Note that the high demand season and the tariff year do not line up. A single winter season straddles two price sets, which is why a June bill and a July bill on the same tariff can look very different.
What you will see in July
- Consumption data is normal, but Cost Breakdown is blank or incomplete.
- "There is no cost calculated on Augos, who can assist?"
- A bill verification with a variance that is nothing to do with your metering.
- Save errors on Bill Verification while back-end tariff work is under way.
Why it happens
Augos loads each municipality's new rates as they are published. Most sites are updated quickly, but not all at once, and some municipalities publish late. Where a metro has not published its new tariffs at all, there is nothing for Augos to load and the cost cannot be calculated. Augos does enquire, but the publication schedule is the municipality's.
The transitional bill
The first bill after a change is the one that generates the most questions. Municipalities sometimes apply the new monthly fixed fee in full while pro-rating the consumption rates for the days that fall in the new tariff year. That mixture cannot be reproduced exactly by a tariff scheme, which is designed to apply one set of rates over a period. The result is a variance of a few percent on that one month, and it is not a capture error.
Where this happens, Augos reloads and edits the tariff so it matches the actual bill for that transitional month, purely so cost allocation comes out right.
What to do
- If cost data is missing in July, check whether consumption data is present. If it is, this is a tariff loading question, not a metering one.
- Email
support@augos.iowith a list of the affected sites. A list lets support prioritise your tariff updates rather than working through them in whatever order they come. - Ask for the cost breakdowns by email in the interim if you have a month-end deadline.
- Treat a variance on the transitional month with suspicion before treating it as a problem.
Good to know
- The published tariff book and the municipality's own tariff booklet do not always agree, and neither always matches what is actually being billed. Augos verifies against real customer bills and follows what the utility is actually charging.
- Draft tariffs are released for public comment before they are gazetted. Augos can supply the draft so you can model the increase, but a draft is a draft and will be flagged as such.
- Structural changes happen too, not just increases. New charge lines appear and old ones drop away. Because other components sometimes fall at the same time, many bills end up closer to neutral than the headline increase suggests. See The charges on your bill explained.
Still stuck
Email support@augos.io with the list of sites and the months affected.