Strange new Eskom invoice line items

frankvw

frankvw

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I know this is not related to loadshedding (AFAIK) so if this is the wrong forum I apologize in advance.

I just received my latest Eskom bill. With the new tariff structure coming into effect on 1 April last I expected higher charges, both for energy consumption and network capacity charge (the fixed-fee we all pay for having an Eskom connection). What does confuse me is a number of entirely new line items:
  • Service Admin Charge @ R3.27 / day
  • Generation Capacity Charge @ R0.47 / day
  • Ancilary Service Charge @ R0.0041 / kWh
  • Network Demand Charge Charge (sic) @ R0.2637 / kWh
We're on the "Homepower Standard" tariff and have a single phase 50A connection. We're in Munster, and Eskom bills us directly (i.e. not through city or municipality).
I've gone through Eskom's tariff schedule for 2026-2027 to see what these charges are ostensibly for (I use the word ostensibly advisedly; we all know why Eskom wants more money) and I see descriptons like:

Ancillary Service charge means the charge that recovers the cost of providing ancillary services by the System Operator.

Distribution network capacity charge (previously known as the Distribution network access charge) means the R/kVA or R/POD fixed network charge raised to recover Distribution network costs and depending on the tariff is charged on the annual utilised capacity or maximum export capacity where maximum demand is measured or the NMD where maximum demand is not measured.

Network demand charge means the R/kVA or c/kWh variable network charge raised to recover network costs and depending on the
tariff may be charged on the chargeable demand or the active energy.

Service and administration charge means the monthly charge payable per service agreement for service and administration related
costs. (Also see service charge and administration charge)

This is all as clear as mud to me. These definitions are worse than a software EULA made up by a gaggle of lawyers. What are these new charges supposed to cover? Or am I billed for charges that should not apply to me? I don't expect so, but then this is Eskom we're dealing with...

Can anyone point me in the right direction, preferably in language that a bloke of Very Little Brain like me can understand?
 
frankvw said:
I know this is not related to loadshedding (AFAIK) so if this is the wrong forum I apologize in advance.

I just received my latest Eskom bill. With the new tariff structure coming into effect on 1 April last I expected higher charges, both for energy consumption and network capacity charge (the fixed-fee we all pay for having an Eskom connection). What does confuse me is a number of entirely new line items:
  • Service Admin Charge @ R3.27 / day
  • Generation Capacity Charge @ R0.47 / day
  • Ancilary Service Charge @ R0.0041 / kWh
  • Network Demand Charge Charge (sic) @ R0.2637 / kWh
We're on the "Homepower Standard" tariff and have a single phase 50A connection. We're in Munster, and Eskom bills us directly (i.e. not through city or municipality).
I've gone through Eskom's tariff schedule for 2026-2027 to see what these charges are ostensibly for (I use the word ostensibly advisedly; we all know why Eskom wants more money) and I see descriptons like:

Ancillary Service charge means the charge that recovers the cost of providing ancillary services by the System Operator.

Distribution network capacity charge (previously known as the Distribution network access charge) means the R/kVA or R/POD fixed network charge raised to recover Distribution network costs and depending on the tariff is charged on the annual utilised capacity or maximum export capacity where maximum demand is measured or the NMD where maximum demand is not measured.

Network demand charge means the R/kVA or c/kWh variable network charge raised to recover network costs and depending on the
tariff may be charged on the chargeable demand or the active energy.

Service and administration charge means the monthly charge payable per service agreement for service and administration related
costs. (Also see service charge and administration charge)

This is all as clear as mud to me. These definitions are worse than a software EULA made up by a gaggle of lawyers. What are these new charges supposed to cover? Or am I billed for charges that should not apply to me? I don't expect so, but then this is Eskom we're dealing with...

Can anyone point me in the right direction, preferably in language that a bloke of Very Little Brain like me can understand?
Click to expand...
These are made up terms to make more money. They learned well from the banking sector.
 
frankvw said:
I know this is not related to loadshedding (AFAIK) so if this is the wrong forum I apologize in advance.

I just received my latest Eskom bill. With the new tariff structure coming into effect on 1 April last I expected higher charges, both for energy consumption and network capacity charge (the fixed-fee we all pay for having an Eskom connection). What does confuse me is a number of entirely new line items:
  • Service Admin Charge @ R3.27 / day
  • Generation Capacity Charge @ R0.47 / day
  • Ancilary Service Charge @ R0.0041 / kWh
  • Network Demand Charge Charge (sic) @ R0.2637 / kWh
We're on the "Homepower Standard" tariff and have a single phase 50A connection. We're in Munster, and Eskom bills us directly (i.e. not through city or municipality).
I've gone through Eskom's tariff schedule for 2026-2027 to see what these charges are ostensibly for (I use the word ostensibly advisedly; we all know why Eskom wants more money) and I see descriptons like:

Ancillary Service charge means the charge that recovers the cost of providing ancillary services by the System Operator.

Distribution network capacity charge (previously known as the Distribution network access charge) means the R/kVA or R/POD fixed network charge raised to recover Distribution network costs and depending on the tariff is charged on the annual utilised capacity or maximum export capacity where maximum demand is measured or the NMD where maximum demand is not measured.

Network demand charge means the R/kVA or c/kWh variable network charge raised to recover network costs and depending on the
tariff may be charged on the chargeable demand or the active energy.

Service and administration charge means the monthly charge payable per service agreement for service and administration related
costs. (Also see service charge and administration charge)

This is all as clear as mud to me. These definitions are worse than a software EULA made up by a gaggle of lawyers. What are these new charges supposed to cover? Or am I billed for charges that should not apply to me? I don't expect so, but then this is Eskom we're dealing with...

Can anyone point me in the right direction, preferably in language that a bloke of Very Little Brain like me can understand?
Click to expand...
Wait until you realise that the increase with these new "services" is only for the first 10 days of April. They have basically doubled the network charge.
 
Snotface said:
Wait until you realise that the increase with these new "services" is only for the first 10 days of April. They have basically doubled the network charge.
Click to expand...
They were only for the first 3 days, not 10. So you're even more right than you know.
 
frankvw said:
I know this is not related to loadshedding (AFAIK) so if this is the wrong forum I apologize in advance.

I just received my latest Eskom bill. With the new tariff structure coming into effect on 1 April last I expected higher charges, both for energy consumption and network capacity charge (the fixed-fee we all pay for having an Eskom connection). What does confuse me is a number of entirely new line items:
  • Service Admin Charge @ R3.27 / day
  • Generation Capacity Charge @ R0.47 / day
  • Ancilary Service Charge @ R0.0041 / kWh
  • Network Demand Charge Charge (sic) @ R0.2637 / kWh
We're on the "Homepower Standard" tariff and have a single phase 50A connection. We're in Munster, and Eskom bills us directly (i.e. not through city or municipality).
I've gone through Eskom's tariff schedule for 2026-2027 to see what these charges are ostensibly for (I use the word ostensibly advisedly; we all know why Eskom wants more money) and I see descriptons like:

Ancillary Service charge means the charge that recovers the cost of providing ancillary services by the System Operator.

Distribution network capacity charge (previously known as the Distribution network access charge) means the R/kVA or R/POD fixed network charge raised to recover Distribution network costs and depending on the tariff is charged on the annual utilised capacity or maximum export capacity where maximum demand is measured or the NMD where maximum demand is not measured.

Network demand charge means the R/kVA or c/kWh variable network charge raised to recover network costs and depending on the
tariff may be charged on the chargeable demand or the active energy.

Service and administration charge means the monthly charge payable per service agreement for service and administration related
costs. (Also see service charge and administration charge)

This is all as clear as mud to me. These definitions are worse than a software EULA made up by a gaggle of lawyers. What are these new charges supposed to cover? Or am I billed for charges that should not apply to me? I don't expect so, but then this is Eskom we're dealing with...

Can anyone point me in the right direction, preferably in language that a bloke of Very Little Brain like me can understand?
Click to expand...

Do what I did.

Step 1: get prepaid meter so they cant BS bill you

Step 2: Get solar

Step 3: Do not feed the grid so they cant detect you

Step 4: Dont go fully off the grid so you show usuage
 
Last edited:
frankvw said:
They were only for the first 3 days, not 10. So you're even more right than you know.
Click to expand...
Mine show for the first 9 days (reading date 2025/04/09):

Network Capacity Charge R6.43 for 20 days (March billing).
Service and Admin Charge R3.27 for 9 days.
Network Capacity Charge R8.35 for 9 days.
Generation Capacity Charge R0.47 for 9 days.
 
OK. I've finally worked it out to some extent. Eskom's official party line is that "the changes to the tariff structures benefit customers by ushering in a stronger user-pay principle and remove previous unintended subsidies." (I kid you not. They claim they've unintentionally being subsidizing us.) "Energy charges are now unbundled from the previous all-inclusive energy c/kWh and now include separate legacy c/kWh and R/kVA generation capacity charges." Apparently this "enables all to pay for the provision of capacity and simplifies the comparison to electricity generation alternatives."

So yes, this is the new tariff structure with changes deliberately engineered to inflate the bill further while muddling the issue with unreadable language. Interesting, though, that they pretty much admit that solar is the main reason for it.
 
RiaX said:
Do what I did.

Step 1: get prepaid meter so they can BS bill you

Step 2: Get solar

Step 3: Do not feed the grid so they cant detect you

Step 4: Dont go fully off the grid so you show usuage
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I did. Great minds to seem to think alike!

I can't afford to go entirely off-grid; I can't back-feed in any case because the meter won't let me and in our neck of the woods Eskom won't allow it so I wouldn't gain anything by it, and I need additional Eskom power during cloudy weather (which is frequent here at the KZN south coast). But I am making a decent dent in my kWh consumption. Like many of us do. So Eskom tries to screw us in different ways now. Hence the "new and improved" tarriff structure. Farking iceholes.
 
Now we wait for the next bill with 12.74% hiked onto the lot. Time for a divorce from these creatures.
 
That's ironic... My geyser element just popped! I'd been waiting for a chance to go into the roof and disconnect it entirely so I can get the installation of my gas geyser finalized, but it's a kak job so I've been putting it off (paying Eskom all the while for hot water). Now I'm going to have to do this today. Divine intervention, perhaps... :ROFL:
 
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