An email currently doing the rounds has Cape Town ratepayers up in arms – especially in light of the new proposed rates hike. The email is a copy of the current electricity account for the new Cape Town stadium – and the figure is a staggering R2.83 Million!

According to the city’s 2010 team, it costs about R350 000, excluding VAT, to electrify the stadium each month – but they say the city is only responsible for charges incurred after mid-December, which is when the contractor handed over the stadium. Apparently all electricity charges incurred before the completion of the contract are part of the capital cost of building the stadium and are the responsibility of the contractor.

City spokesman Pieter Cronje said the city would be responsible for the operating cost of the stadium – including electricity – until it is handed over to the operator, Sail Stadefrance, in November.

While acknowledging that the electricity charges were high, Cronje said they had been budgeted for. But one has to wonder from which budget the money has been earmarked – and what the final account will be at the end of the day. So far, the energy-guzzling stadium has chomped its way through: R272 000 worth of electricity used in the September-October billing period, R352 000 in November, R312 000 in December and R308 000 in January.