{"id":91182,"date":"2026-04-17T12:37:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/?p=91182"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:37:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:37:59","slug":"outlier-152-divorces-joburg-tariffs-webinars-pay-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/outlier-152-divorces-joburg-tariffs-webinars-pay-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"Outlier #152:\u00a0Divorces, Joburg tariffs, webinars, pay TV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\ud83d\udc8d\"\u00a0Cutting the knot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The majority of divorces in South Africa are initiated by women. Data from Statistics South Africa show that 52% of divorces in Limpopo in 2024 were initiated by the wife. This increases to 60% wife-initiated divorces in the Western Cape.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divorce rates peak in midlife, particularly between the ages of 35 and 49. The highest number of divorces are in the 40-44 age group. And while women tend to get divorced younger, men dominate filings in older age groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most divorces also come from the first marriage. Men however are more likely to get divorced more than once, with 2,307 men and 1,799 women recorded as getting divorced more than once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u26a1\"\ufe0f Lights on<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Eskom\u2019s Energy Availability Factor (EAF), the percentage of time its plants are available to generate electricity, tells a sobering story. From a healthy 87.5% in 2006\/07, availability dropped steadily over the following decade and a half, bottoming out at a concerning 54.56% in 2023\/24, a period marked by 329 days of loadshedding.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the tide appears to be turning. In 2024\/25, Eskom\u2019s EAF recovered to 60.60%, underpinned by 310 consecutive loadshedding-free days and a meaningful reduction in unplanned outages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2025\/26, the improvement accelerated. Eskom reported an EAF of 65.07% for 2025\/26, and said the generation fleet achieved or exceeded the 70% EAF milestone on 83 occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The utility has set targets of 70% EAF by 2027\/28, a critical goal for long-term grid reliability. The last time Eskom had an annual average EAF of 70% or above was 2017\/18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\ud83c\udfe1\"\u00a0Pay up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Johannesburg’s proposed tariff increases for 2026\/27, 12.5% for water and 8.6% for electricity, are straining residents’ ability to afford basic services, the city acknowledges in its draft Integrated Development Plan (IDP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tariffs fund service delivery and infrastructure, but because the city buys water from Rand Water and electricity from Eskom, which have proposed their own tariff increases of 11% and 8.6% respectively, the increases are largely passed on to consumers. The city warns that this is already pushing residents who can afford it to buy boreholes and solar power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revenue pressure is worsened by significant internal losses: 44.7% of water went unbilled in 2024\/25 due to leaks, bursts and illegal connections, while electricity distribution losses hit 27.1%. The city calls this “revenue forgone”. Notably, the city froze property rates in 2018\/19, the one time in a decade it offered relief when water tariffs rose 13.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To close the gap between revenue and expenses, Johannesburg is pursuing active revenue enforcement. Cracking down on illegal outdoor advertising is projected to unlock R300-million a year, for example. There\u2019s also Metro Trading Services Reforms, developed with the National Treasury, which will ring-fence utility finances and make water, sanitation, electricity and refuse services self-funding by decade’s end. The city also plans to deploy artificial intelligence and sensors to curb water leak losses. Plus it wants to diversify its energy mix through independent power producers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n