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Electricity calculator

What does one rand of electricity actually buy you?

Answer a few questions about your household and see exactly how many units your money buys — and how long that runs your kettle, your geyser and your fridge. Rates are the City of Cape Town's, effective 1 July 2026, VAT included.

Your household

Everything here is fixed by the City's rules. Only the amount you spend is yours to change.

01What kind of meter do you have?

A prepaid meter is one you buy tokens for. A credit meter is read by the City and billed on your monthly municipal account.

02What is your property worth on the City's valuation?

This is the municipal value on your rates account — not what an estate agent would sell it for.

03Is anyone in the household a pensioner or on an approved City grant?

If your household income is R27 000 a month or less and you receive the pensioner, disability or indigent relief, you get the Lifeline tariff no matter what your property is worth. You have to apply for it — it is not automatic.

04Roughly how much do you use in a normal month?

This sets your free units. Lifeline households under 250 units a month get 60 free; from 250 to 450 units you get 25 free. Above 450 you move onto the Domestic tariff.

05How much are you spending?

Move the slider or type an amount. This is what you spend on electricity itself — the service charge is shown separately below.

Lifeline tariff
130,7units of electricity

That is 130,7 kWh for R200,00. Includes 60 free units.

Every R1 buys

353 Wh

Cost per unit

R1,53

Where your money goes

You spend on electricityAll of it buys unitsR200,00
First 600 unitsAt R2,83 a unit70,7 units
Free basic electricityAdded by the City each month if you qualify+60 units
Units you get130,7 units
Service chargeThe Lifeline tariff has none — every rand buys unitsR0.00

What that runs in your house

130,7 units will run any one of these for about this long — pick whichever you recognise.

Kettle
2000 W · one boil ≈ 3 min
65 hours
Geyser element
3000 W
44 hours
Bar heater
2000 W
65 hours
Fridge
150 W · while running
36 days
LED bulb
10 W
544 days
Incandescent bulb
60 W
91 days
TV
100 W · LED screen
54 days
Laptop
60 W
91 days
Air conditioner
1500 W
87 hours
Stove plate
2000 W
65 hours
Phone charge
15 Wh each
8 710 charges
Washing machine
1000 Wh each
130 full loads

Worth knowing

  • A "unit" is a kilowatt-hour (kWh). One unit runs a 1 000 watt appliance for one hour, or a 100 watt fridge for ten hours.
  • The first 600 units each month are cheaper. On the Domestic and Home User tariffs, anything past 600 units in the same calendar month costs more. Buying a whole year in one go does not beat the increase — only the first 600 units of that month get the cheaper rate.
  • Service charges buy you nothing. On the Domestic and Home User tariffs there is a fixed monthly service charge that you pay whether you switch anything on or not. The units shown above are what your money buys; the service charge is listed separately underneath. On prepaid it is recovered a day at a time from your purchases.
  • Lifeline has no service charge at all and its rate does not go up after 600 units.
  • Relief is not automatic. Free units, the pensioner rebate and the Lifeline tariff all have to be applied for, and re-applied for every 12 months. A lot of it goes unclaimed. Contact the City on 0860 103 089.
  • Eskom-supplied areas are different. If you buy from Eskom rather than the City, these rates do not apply to you.
This is a guidance tool, not a bill. All prices include 15% VAT and are taken from the City of Cape Town's 2026/27 Budget tariff schedule (Annexure 6), effective 1 July 2026. Real accounts include rounding, meter-specific fees and timing differences we can't model here — your actual municipal bill is always the authority, not this calculator.