The debt counseling group polled more than a thousand participants, and found that 77-percent of them say the cost of electricity has become unaffordable.
Forty percent of respondents say they are already spending up to R1,500 per month on power and won’t be able to absorb more price increases.
Many already have crippling debt and are finding it unbearable.
Debt Rescue’s Annaline van der Poel said, “consumers stated most of them cannot afford this increase, going to have to make changes to their budget or the way they use their electricity. Have to put it into the big picture, what South Africans are facing, and electricity is just another one of these items in their budget that has gone up.”
“If you were to simplify a budget, on the one side you have your living expenses eg. electricity, food, that side has gone up exponentially.”
“Inflation is incredibly high, outside the band set by the Reserve Bank. And on the other side, exponential interest rate increases, which is affecting the debt repayment. So consumers are being hit by all angles. It is just another additional expense that is becoming unaffordable.”
Follow the link to watch the full interview: https://www.enca.com/business/sas-electricity-crisis-back-power-unaffordable-most-sans-survey