Eskom just went up 8.76%. Here's what it costs you.
NERSA approved Eskom's tariff hike on 5 March 2026; the new rates apply to direct customers from 1 April 2026 (municipal customers from 1 July). Pick your household tariff and your monthly kWh — we'll show the rand impact.
Step 1 · Pick your tariff
Then the breakdown for that tariff appears below — c/kWh, daily grid-connection cost, and the gotchas.
Homepower (1–4)
Standard residential — most homes are here. Dual or three-phase, no grid-tied solar (that requires Homeflex).
- Active energy322.06 c/kWh
- Network demand32.98 c/kWh
- Ancillary service0.52 c/kWh
- Combined energy rate355.56 c/kWh
Click your supply size to pick this exact tariff. Fixed splits into three components: network capacity (scales with NMD), service & admin (flat R6.60/day), and generation capacity (scales with NMD).
- Three c/kWh layers and three R/day layers — even at zero usage you pay the fixed.
- Grid-tied solar/PV forces you onto Homeflex (TOU), not Homepower.
- April 2026 shift: service & admin fixed portion went 33% → 66%; generation-capacity fixed went 20% → 30%. Variable rates were dropped to compensate.
- Prepaid Homepower bundles the variable c/kWh into one token rate and the fixed into one R/day rate on the vending system.
How many kWh do you use each month?
What the stuff you plug in actually costs
Real running cost on Homepower 1 (355.56c/kWh), with the April 2026 hike highlighted.
The geyser, pool pump and aircon are the heavy hitters — together they often clear half a residential bill. The phone charger is mostly there for perspective: everything else is real money.
Same appliances, across every tariff
Monthly running cost on each tariff with the April 2026 hike's share underneath. Homepower 1–4 share the same per-kWh rate (only the fixed daily charge differs) so appliance costs are the same across the four.
| Appliance | Homelight 20A | Homelight 60A | Homepower 1–4 | Homeflex |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geyser4 kW · 3 hrs a day | R987+R80 | R1 255+R101 | R1 299+R105 | R1 051+R85 |
| Pool pump1.5 kW · 8 hrs a day | R987+R80 | R1 255+R101 | R1 299+R105 | R1 051+R85 |
| Aircon2 kW · 4 hrs an evening | R658+R53 | R837+R67 | R866+R70 | R700+R56 |
| Electric oven2 kW · 1 hr a day | R165+R13 | R209+R17 | R216+R17 | R175+R14 |
| Tumble dryer2.5 kW · 5 loads a week | R147+R12 | R187+R15 | R193+R16 | R156+R13 |
| Iron1.5 kW · 4 hrs a week | R71+R5.68 | R90+R7.22 | R93+R7.47 | R75+R6.04 |
| Kettle2 kW · ~6 boils a day | R49+R3.98 | R63+R5.06 | R65+R5.23 | R53+R4.23 |
| Big-screen TV150 W · 5 hrs a day | R62+R4.97 | R78+R6.32 | R81+R6.54 | R66+R5.29 |
| WiFi router12 W · always on | R24+R1.91 | R30+R2.43 | R31+R2.51 | R25+R2.03 |
| Phone charger10 W · 4 hrs a day | R3.29+27c | R4.18+34c | R4.33+35c | R3.50+28c |
All household tariffs at 600 kWh/month
VAT-incl. Tap a row to switch your selection.
| Tariff | Old bill | New bill | Extra / month | Extra / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homelight 20A | R1 491 | R1 622 | +R131 | +R1 568 |
| Homelight 60A | R1 896 | R2 062 | +R166 | +R1 993 |
| Homepower 1 | R2 606 | R2 834 | +R228 | +R2 739 |
| Homepower 2 | R3 156 | R3 433 | +R276 | +R3 318 |
| Homepower 3 | R4 322 | R4 700 | +R379 | +R4 543 |
| Homepower 4 | R2 461 | R2 677 | +R216 | +R2 587 |
| Homeflex 1 (TOU) | R2 231 | R2 426 | +R195 | +R2 345 |
| Homeflex 2 (TOU) | R2 781 | R3 025 | +R244 | +R2 924 |
| Homeflex 3 (TOU) | R3 947 | R4 293 | +R346 | +R4 149 |
| Homeflex 4 (TOU) | R2 086 | R2 269 | +R183 | +R2 193 |
Note on Homepower / Homeflex: within these tariffs Eskom shifted more cost into fixed daily charges (service & admin moved from 33% to 66% fixed, generation capacity from 20% to 30% fixed) and lowered some variable rates to compensate. The total bill for the tariff bucket still rises 8.76% on average, but a very low-consumption customer sees a higher %, and a very high-consumption customer sees a lower %. The numbers above reflect the 8.76% average — your own bill may differ slightly.