The Ways to Calculate Electricity Cost in South Africa
How much does 1kwh cost in South Africa?
As of March 2022, in South Africa , the price of electricity is 0.141 U.S. Dollar per kWh for households and 0.066 U.S. Dollar for businesses which includes all components of the electricity bill such as the cost of power, distribution and taxes.
| South Africa electricity prices | Household, kWh | Business, kWh |
| South African Rand | 2.558 | 1.209 |
| U.S. Dollar | 0.141 | 0.066 |
How Can I Calculate my Electricity Cost in South Africa?
Provided you know what tariff you are on, you need to “multiply the amount of kWh an appliance uses by the energy rate (c/kWh) applicable to your tariff and divide by 100 to get to the rand value“. According to chief executive officer of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, Adrian Goslett, knowing how much it costs to run the various appliances in your household can be helpful if ever you need to cut back on expenses, Also, for budgeting purposes, it can be helpful to know how much it costs to run the various appliances in your household. So, if you do ever find yourself in a tight financial position, you know which electronic devices need to get used less in order to lower your monthly electric bill.
How much electricity units do you get for R100?
Bear in mind that, when you buy R100 worth of pre-paid, you get 62,5 kWh of electricity loaded to your meter. Every month, the pre-paid service provider sends the statement through to the Body Corporate along with the funds collected from the pre-paid purchases made by residents during the month.
How does this translate into rand value?
For Eskom’s small customer tariffs (which is most households), electricity is billed as an “energy charge” which is calculated in cents per kilowatt-hour (c/kWh). This charge differs per household depending on the tariff, which is a set amount determined by how much electricity a household uses. Those who use above 600 kWh are charged higher tariffs than those who use below 600 kWh.
How to calculate how much it costs to use an appliance?
Provided, you know what tariff you are on, you need to multiply the amount of kWh an appliance uses by the energy rate (c/kWh) applicable to your tariff and divide by 100 to get to the rand value. For instance, the tariff applicable to Block 1 for Homepower (the name Eskom has allocated to residential consumers) has an energy charge of 153.90 c/kWh (including VAT).
In the above example, 3.6 kWh of energy was consumed, which multiplied by the energy charge of 153.90c/kWh amounts to R5.54 to keep your 60-watt bedside lamp on for two hours a night for 30 days.
