Only 10,979 residents of more than 900,000 in need are excluded from a crippling R230 prepaid electricity surcharge. Many more should be.

Massive power tariff increases in Johannesburg are forcing poor people to choose between buying electricity and buying food. The city's residents now pay 12.74% more for electricity overall, while poor prepaid users also have a R230 surcharge (a service tax) added on top of that. This increases costs by 60% (for 200 units/month) and 45% (for 300 units/month), EE Business Intelligence owner and energy analyst Chris Yelland has shown.

In an area that is a sample of poor Johannesburg, Daily Maverick found that people were pawning their goods to pay for electricity and food. Others were making choices to eat or stay warm.

"We can't put on our geysers to bathe. You can't drink coffee when it's cold [because it's too expensive to boil water]," said Lilian Schlaar, a resident of an old-age home complex in Claremont.

Claremont is a dirt-poor suburb to the gritty west of Johannesburg. It's neglected in the ways that so many parts of the vibrant and hustling city now are. Traffic lights never work. The roads are disintegrating, with grass growing through the tar. Water cut-offs, caused by leaky reservoirs and a system of pipes that has yet to be replaced since Pa fell off...