July price hikes poised to hit hard — here's how people are trimming budgets

July has arrived — the month in which consumers will be hard hit by price hikes, most notably increased electricity costs (despite load-shedding challenges) and another petrol price rise this coming Wednesday.

Major metros such as Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, will introduce their new municipal electricity tariffs on July 1 after the National Energy Regulator of SA approved a 7.47% increase earlier this year.

Johannesburg, Tshwane and eThekwini will hike their tariffs by 7.47% and the City of Cape Town’s electricity will go up by 9.5%. This will be topped by increases of 5.2% for rates and 5% for water and sanitation.

Johannesburg’s tariffs for water are to rise by 9.75% and property rates are going up 4.85%.

But by far the biggest increase will be the cost of petrol, as it hits motorists at the pumps and affects the poor in the form of increased food prices triggered by higher transport costs.

The fuel price increase comes into effect at midnight on Tuesday — at the same time that government’s temporary R1.50/l petrol tax relief intervention drops by 75 cents. This means the country is facing an increase of between R2.30 and R2.50/l.

This is topped by other crippling increases in basic foods such as cooking oil (more than 50% increase in the past year), polony (more than 30% up on last year) and increases of more than 20% on foods such as chicken livers, spinach, beef liver and potatoes.

Consumers, already struggling, have flooded social media with requests for advice and ideas on how to best economise and keep costs down.

The Stockpile 1 Family group on Facebook this week was abuzz with discussions and suggestions on how to save. Comments showed that while some people have been able to cut down through creative innovations, others are already in deep trouble.

“Having only breakfast and supper, no more lunch. Me and my kids have lost so much weight, but what can we do? It's tough,” said one mother.

“I have always lived pared down. I haven't had help in the house since my beloved [helper] passed of Covid. I found the gardener three other jobs and so that's gone as well. I am selling my things instead of just giving them away. I feel guilty about that,” said another woman.

There were repeated claims of cutting down on eating out, takeaways and luxuries such as DStv — either downscaling packages or dropping it completely — and creating lift clubs. Gym contracts, salon nails, trips to the hairdresser, domestic help, top brand cleaning products and red meat all featured prominently as the items people are generally cutting back on.

“I sold my car, now taking public transport”, “I buy milk sachets instead of the six box packs”, “Closed all my clothing accounts” and “Switched off my geyser, now using an element bucket” were some of the strategies people gave in response to a plea for help on how to cut down on living expenses.

Some of the less drastic ploys suggested by thrifty consumers were: “Re-looked at insurances, buy meat when on special. Incorporate more veggies. Cut-down on junk luxury food like chocolates and biscuits”; “Invest in an air fryer and save on cooking oil”; “Avoid unnecessary trips”; “Move from medical aid to medical insurance”; “Do home workouts instead of going to the gym”; “Cut your own hair”; and “No new clothes for grown-ups, only necessities for the kids”.

“Plan meals and only replenish fruit and vegetables that are available at the market and don’t cook according to cravings. Cook what is in the fridge and do a clean-out before you buy groceries again. I’ve maintained my savings and investments that way,” was one response.

“I have a gym membership, go every morning and shower there. Now I only switch my geyser on on Saturday and Sunday,” was another.

One mother’s voice rang loudly.

“We’ve been eating less meat with no takeaways or eating out for months now ... No more fancy cleaning products. I’ve learnt that I can use pine gel for almost anything. The saddest cut is that we can’t drive to see our families. My parents visited us last September and now they live even further away, so there is no way we will see them this year. There are so many cuts we’ve made, but still we can’t cope with everything that keeps getting more expensive every month,” she said.

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