Mossel Bay Municipality News

MEDIA RELEASE: MANAGE YOUR BASIC COST THIS WAY

Date: Sep 1, 2023

From 1 July 2023, a basic or availability charge will be charged on all municipal accounts. These costs relate to the maintenance of infrastructure in relation to the provision of services including the provision of electricity. Since the municipality knows that not everyone necessarily buys large amounts of electricity per month, nor does it necessarily put a lot of pressure on the infrastructure, the Council thought it good to put options on the table to give more control to the consumer with regard to the basic fee. Consumers have the option to manage this basic fee, including downgrading. This is what the options look like:

Downgrading involves a once-off fee of R235.60.

NOTE: During a special municipal council meeting held on 10 August, the Council decided to waive this fee to all applicants between the period of 1 June 2023 and 31 January 2024. Any person who has already paid the R235,60 to 1 June, can contact the municipality's finance department after which their municipal account will be credited with the relevant amount.

HOW CAN CONSUMERS DOWNGRADE?

Downgrade application forms (as can be downloaded from this link) are also available at municipal offices' payment points; from the technical services department in Schoeman Street, Mossel Bay (044 606 5085) of by sending an email to admin@mosselbay.gov.za

NOTE: The owner of a particular property must fill in the application form or downgrade. Should the downgrade be insufficient and an upgrade necessary, a fee of R235.60 will be charged.Completed application forms are received and handled by the technical services department in Schoeman Street, Mossel Bay

Completed forms can:

• Be handed in at the technical services department, Schoeman Street Mossel Bay (044 606 5085)
• Be sent by email to admin@mosselbay.gov.za (attention technical services department)
• Be handed in at municipal offices (Great Brak River, Hartenbos, D’Almeida, 101 Marsh Street CBD)
  

HOW DOES A CONSUMER DETERMINE THE APPROPRIATE CIRCUIT BREAKER SIZE?

It is worth looking at the watts of basic equipment. Try these examples: 

Each device's watts used are different. Should a user, for example, decide to lower a circuit breaker to 30 amperes, appliances using up to and including 6,900 watts can be switched on at once. As soon as the total watts of all the appliances that are on at the same time goes above 6,900 watts, the circuit breaker will trip. Consumers have to decide for themselves which devices should be switched on at the same time and thus determine whether a circuit breaker is the best option. Devices' watts that are consumed are usually clearly indicated on the device. If only the amperes can be seen on the device, the number of amperes can be multiplied by 230 Volts to get the watts. A hot plate, for example, uses 4.4 amps, which is then worked out as 1012 watts (4.4A x 230V=1012 watts).