Get on the Right Side of your Electricity Tariff

In a previous article on First Look Blog, we suggested that “Most schools (dependent on the size of the incoming electrical supply) have been “attributed” the BUSINESS TARIFF”.

And while it is true that “most” schools (especially Primary Schools) are indeed on this Tariff, there are exceptions!!!

We were recently introduced to a Primary School who is one of the “exceptions”…and the results are devastating.

The alternative tariff our reference school is under is what is known as “Large Customer” (at the top of Page 6)

What this implies is that the actual “kWh tariff” (electricity consumed) is low, although an “Energy Charge (KVA)” applies for the capacity of the electricity consumed. This is designed for large customers (such as Hospitals, Factories, etc) ad serves them well, although smaller customers (like Primary Schools) not so well.

The image below is a heavily edited (for obvious reasons) section )Page 2) of charges applied to “our reference school” on one of their invoices. It should be noted that whilst the “Energy Charge” (kWh) is relatively low at cerca R7,500.00, the Demand Charge Energy Charge (in KVA) at R73,000.00 is completely disproportionate.

In this particular instance, there is a clear case of incorrect billing, which has persisted for far too many months, and needs to be addressed.

School's Administrators must however be able to identify the details of their invoices and be able to question/challenge this blatent "incorrectness".