Why Do You Pay a Capacity Charge?

This is a municipal news article published by the Overstrand Municipality (dated 21 July 2026) explaining why customers pay a monthly electricity capacity charge. The article states the charge is based on the size of a customer’s electricity connection (e.g., 30 A, 40 A, 50 A, 60 A) and is payable regardless of how much electricity is used. It explains that the municipality must reserve sufficient network capacity and pays Eskom for access to network capacity, and that choosing an appropriately sized connection can help reduce peak demand and delay costly network upgrades. It also includes an appliance guide describing typical loads for different connection sizes.