WHAT DOES THE NEW FINANCIAL YEAR MEAN FOR JOHANNESBURG RESIDENTS?

The new 2025/2026 financial year signifies a period for which new or amended tariffs of charges come into effect for a comprehensive range of municipal services. For the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, this particular new financial year runs from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.

NEW TARIFFS APPLICABLE FROM 1 JULY 2025 TO 30 JUNE 2026

The new tariffs can be found on the City’s website at https://joburg.org.za/documents_/Pages/Approved-Tariffs-for-202526-Financial-Year.aspx.

A poster created by the City illustrating the increase in tariffs can be located at https://joburg.org.za/documents_/Documents/Amendment%20of%20Tariff%20Charges/Consolidated-Tariffs-FY20252026.FINAL.pdf.

CITY OF JOHANNESBURG’S BILLING SYSTEM

The City’s Billing System will be temporarily offline from 27 June to 7 July 2025. This planned downtime is part of the City’s annual financial year-end procedures.

HOW WILL THE OFFLINE BILLING SYSTEM AFFECT JOHANNESBURG RESIDENTS?

• Invoices for July may be sent out late or might not be sent out at all in July.
• In August invoices residents may be charged twice where they were not invoiced in July. In such cases one charge would be for July and the other for August.
• Billing queries cannot be dealt with whilst the system is offline.
• There may be glitches in the system which may delay the restoration of the system even after it comes up and which affects invoicing.

DOUBLE BILLING IN AUGUST FOR SERVICE CHARGES

It is common to see what looks like double billing in the August invoice, for services (electricity and water). This often occurs because the City is charging for services in two different steps, which relate to two different billing periods (the first up to 30 June 2025 and the second from 1 July 2025 onwards). This is done because the COJ’s tariffs increase on 1 July 2025, and it would not be correct to charge a customer for services consumed over any period which span or cross the 1st of July, without splitting those costs into two periods, because either the COJ would undercharge for a portion of those services (if it uses the cheaper tariffs applicable to before 30 June) or overcharge for those services (if it uses the more expensive tariffs applicable to after 1 July).

The result is that the COJ splits up the charges into two billing periods, one which ends on 30 June and the other of which starts on 1 July, and then applies the applicable tariffs to each period, to avoid any over or under charge.

CHANGES IN POLICIES

The City reviews the terms of its policies annually and implements increases to ensure the City’s operational continuity and the provision of services to all its customers. Any person who is expecting to receive a rebate, exemption or otherwise obtain any other benefit from the COJ in terms of its tariffs, such as being approved as a pensioner or for the ESP (expanded social package), will need to check the new policies

applicable from 1 July 2025 onwards to see whether a new application needs to be made for the new financial year, or whether there are any rule changes that would otherwise qualify or disqualify you from receiving that benefit.

SUMMARY OF INCREASES FROM 30 JUNE 2025 TO 1 JULY 2025

The most common query that our offices receive is why rates charges are increasing, as most people expect the rates charges to remain fixed for the entire period of the property roll (which is ordinarily four to five years).

The answer lies in the fact that every year, on the 1st of July, the City increases its tariffs for rates charges, which causes a corresponding change in the amount charged by the City for rates in the case of every single customer. This happens even though the customer’s property valuation remains the same. This year, in the COJ, the increase for rates was 4.6% across the board, as this extract of the City’s poster illustrating its tariff increases shows: