With the rapid increases in the price of electricity and water over the past decade, the question is: what does a shower or bath cost in South Africa in 2024?
Most South Africans are aware of the rapidly rising price of electricity (a 937% increase over the period 2007-2024), but the price of water has also been increasing rapidly over the same period.
South Africans tend not to think twice about the cost of a shower or bath, since both electricity and water used to be very inexpensive.
Is this still true in 2024? Our previous studies in 2022 and earlier were real eye-openers, with the cost of a 10-minute shower using a 15 litre/min showerhead coming to just over R21/shower!
We have now updated the study using the latest approved municipal tariffs for the tariff year July 2024 to June 2025. As you might guess, things look worse than they did last year.
Here is the summary data for 2024 to 2025.
For an average middle-class household in South Africa (LSM7-10), a 10-min shower costs over R24 if you have a ‘standard’ 15 litre/min showerhead! This is about R2.43/min. By changing to a low-flow showerhead and reducing shower time to 6 minutes, you can dramatically reduce this to about R7.78 per shower (or R1.30/min).
In either case, it appears that the days of ‘cheap’ showers are numbered, and we can all do with being more aware of just how much water & electricity we use in the shower or bath.
Conventional wisdom has it that showering uses less water than running a bath. However, a typical bath uses 90 litres of water, so if you shower for longer than 6 minutes with a ‘standard’ showerhead, you will actually use more water than if you had a bath… With an average shower time internationally of 8 minutes, a shallow bath might actually be better for your pocket and the environment!
Of course, even better than a shallow bath is to switch to a low flow showerhead and have shorter showers… During the ‘Day Zero’ water crisis, City of Cape Town recommended showering for less than 2 minutes, and switching to low-flow showerheads (less than 10 litres/min) is compulsory according to City of Cape Town bylaws.
The graphs below show more detailed information on water & energy use and cost per shower for normal & low-flow showerheads, and compared to a ‘standard’ 90 litre bath.
Average bath uses about 90 litres of water. Waterwise. Last accessed: 12/09/2017.
“Normal” or standard showerheads use 15 litres of water per minute or more, and low flow showerheads use about 8 litres water per minute. Eskom fact sheet on showerheads. Last accessed: 12/09/2017.
Average effective residential water & electricity tariffs were calculated from the published 2024/25 tariffs of the following four metropolitan municipalities: City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, City of Cape Town and Ethekwini, using the average residential water and electricity consumption values for LSM7-10 obtained from the above references.
For ‘low income’ households, the average marginal water tariff is somewhat lower across the four municipalities (due to lower average consumption), at R2.63/kWh for electricity and R47.24/kilolitre for water & sanitation. This yields a cost per bath of R11.11, a cost per 10-minute ‘normal showerhead’ shower of R18.52/shower, and a cost per 6-minute low-flow showerhead shower of R5.93/shower.
Energy cost of hot water based on heating water from 15 to 60°C, which requires approximately 5.22 kWh per 100 litre.
With the rapid increases in the price of electricity and water over the past decade, the question is: what does a shower or bath cost in South Africa in 2022?
Most South Africans are aware of the rapidly rising price of electricity (a 650% increase over the period 2007-2022), but the price of water has also been increasing rapidly over the same period.
South Africans tend not to think twice about the cost of a shower or bath, since both electricity and water used to be very inexpensive.
Is this still true in 2022? Our previous study in 2021 was a real eye-opener, with the cost of a 10-minute shower using a 15 litre/min showerhead coming to just under R20/shower!
We have now updated the study using the latest approved municipal tariffs for the tariff year July 2022 to June 2023. As you might guess, things look worse than they did last year.
Here is the summary data for 2022 to 2023.
For an average middle-class household in South Africa (LSM7-10), a 10-min shower costs over R21 if you have a ‘standard’ 15 litre/min showerhead! This is about R2.10/min. By changing to a low-flow showerhead and reducing shower time to 6 minutes, you can dramatically reduce this to about R6.70 per shower (or R1.12/min).
In either case, it appears that the days of ‘cheap’ showers are numbered, and we can all do with being more aware of just how much water & electricity we use in the shower or bath.
Conventional wisdom has it that showering uses less water than running a bath. However, a typical bath uses 90 litres of water, so if you shower for longer than 6 minutes with a ‘standard’ showerhead, you will actually use more water than if you had a bath… With an average shower time internationally of 8 minutes, a shallow bath might actually be better for your pocket and the environment!
Of course, even better than a shallow bath is to switch to a low flow showerhead and have shorter showers… City of Cape Town recommends showering for less than 2 minutes, and switching to low-flow showerheads (less than 10 litres/min) is compulsory according to City of Cape Town bylaws.
The graphs below show more detailed information on water & energy use and cost per shower for normal & low-flow showerheads, and compared to a ‘standard’ 90 litre bath.
Average bath uses about 90 litres of water. Waterwise. Last accessed: 12/09/2017.
“Normal” or standard showerheads use 15 litres of water per minute or more, and low flow showerheads use about 8 litres water per minute. Eskom fact sheet on showerheads. Last accessed: 12/09/2017.
Average effective residential water & electricity tariffs were calculated from the published 2022/23 tariffs of the following four metropolitan municipalities: City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, City of Cape Town and Ethekwini, using the average residential water and electricity consumption values for LSM7-10 obtained from the above references.
For ‘lower income’ households, the average water & electricity tariffs are somewhat lower across the four municipalities (due to lower average consumption), at R2.57/kWh for electricity and R45.30/kilolitre for water & sanitation. This yields a cost per bath of R10.78, a cost per 10-minute ‘normal showerhead’ shower of R17.97/shower, and a cost per 6-minute low-flow showerhead shower of R5.75/shower.
Energy cost of hot water based on heating water from 15 to 60°C, which requires approximately 5.22 kWh per 100 litre.
With the rapid increases in the price of electricity and water over the past decade, the question is: what does a shower or bath cost in South Africa in 2021?
Most South Africans are aware of the rapidly rising price of electricity (a 650% increase over the period 2007-2022), but the price of water has also been increasing rapidly over the same period.
South Africans tend not to think twice about the cost of a shower or bath, since both electricity and water used to be very inexpensive.
Is this still true in 2021? Our previous study in 2017 was a real eye-opener, with the cost of a 10-minute shower using a 15 litre/min showerhead coming to just under R13/shower.
We have now updated the study using the latest approved municipal tariffs for the tariff year July 2021 to June 2022. Unfortunately things have only gotten worse…
Here is the summary data for 2021.
For an average middle-class household in South Africa (LSM7-10), a 10-min shower costs almost R20 if you have a ‘standard’ 15 litre/min showerhead! This is about R1.95/min. By changing to a low-flow showerhead and reducing shower time to 6 minutes, you can dramatically reduce this to just over R6 per shower (or R1.04/min).
In either case, it appears that the days of ‘cheap’ showers are numbered, and we can all do with being more aware of just how much water & electricity we use in the shower or bath.
Conventional wisdom has it that showering uses less water than running a bath. However, a typical bath uses 90 litres of water, so if you shower for longer than 6 minutes with a ‘standard’ showerhead, you will actually use more water than if you had a bath… With an average shower time internationally of 8 minutes, a shallow bath might actually be better for your pocket and the environment!
Of course, even better than a shallow bath is to switch to a low flow showerhead and have shorter showers… City of Cape Town recommends showering for less than 2 minutes, and switching to low-flow showerheads (less than 10 litres/min) is compulsory according to City of Cape Town bylaws.
The graphs below show more detailed information on water & energy use and cost per shower for normal & low-flow showerheads, and compared to a ‘standard’ 90 litre bath.
Average bath uses about 90 litres of water. Waterwise. Last accessed: 12/09/2017.
“Normal” or standard showerheads use 15 litres of water per minute or more, and low flow showerheads use about 8 litres water per minute. Eskom fact sheet on showerheads. Last accessed: 12/09/2017.
Average effective residential water & electricity tariffs were calculated from the published 2021/22 tariffs of the following four metropolitan municipalities: City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, City of Cape Town and Ethekwini, using the average residential water and electricity consumption values for LSM7-10 obtained from the above references.
For ‘lower income’ households, the average water & electricity tariffs are somewhat lower across the four municipalities (due to lower average consumption), at R2.37/kWh for electricity and R37.88/kilolitre for water & sanitation. This yields a cost per bath of R9.59, a cost per 10-minute ‘normal showerhead’ shower of R15.98/shower, and a cost per 6-minute low-flow showerhead shower of R5.11/shower.
Energy cost of hot water based on heating water from 15 to 60°C, which requires approximately 5.22 kWh per 100 litre.
Please note: this article has been updated – click here for the 2021 version.
With the rapid increase in the price of electricity and water over the past few years, the question is: what does a shower or bath cost in South Africa in 2017?
Most South Africans are aware of the rapidly rising price of electricity (a 300% increase in the period 2007-2015 alone), but the price of water has also been increasing rapidly over the past few years.
For example, here are the water & sanitation tariff increases effective July 2017 for the four major metropolitan areas:
Ethekwini 17%
City of Johannesburg 12.2%
City of Tshwane 10.2%
City of Cape Town:
13.2% for 6 – 10.5 kl (kilolitres)
29.7% for 10.5 – 20 kl
27.2% for 20 – 35 kl
128.8% for 35 – 50 kl
These increases are all much higher than inflation. All these municipalities have also done away with the free water allocation of 6 000 litres (6 kilolitres), except for people registered as indigent.
Of course, there is a serious drought in Cape Town, and so the increases seen there might be more justifiable.
South Africans tend not to think twice about the cost of a shower or bath, since both electricity and water used to be very inexpensive.
Is this still true in 2017? We did some calculations and the result is an eye-opener.
For an average middle-class household in South Africa (LSM7-10), a 10-min shower costs almost R13 if you have a ‘standard’ 15 litre/min showerhead! This is about R1.30/min. By changing to a low-flow showerhead and reducing shower time to 6 minutes, you can dramatically reduce this to just over R4 per shower (or 70c/min).
In either case, it appears that the days of ‘cheap’ showers are numbered, and we can all do with being more aware of just how much water & electricity we use in the shower or bath.
Conventional wisdom has it that showering uses less water than running a bath. However, a typical bath uses 90 litres of water, so if you shower for longer than 6 minutes with a ‘standard’ showerhead, you will actually use more water than if you had a bath… With an average shower time internationally of 8 minutes, a shallow bath might actually be better for your pocket and the environment!
Of course, even better than a shallow bath is to switch to a low flow showerhead and have shorter showers… City of Cape Town recommends showering for less than 2 minutes, and switching to low-flow showerheads (less than 10 litres/min) is compulsory according to City of Cape Town bylaws.
The graphs below show more detailed information on water & energy use and cost per shower for normal & low-flow showerheads, and compared to a ‘standard’ 90 litre bath.
References, methodology & assumptions for calculations
Average bath uses about 90 litres of water. Waterwise. Last accessed: 12/09/2017.
“Normal” or standard showerheads use 15 litres of water per minute or more, and low flow showerheads use about 8 litres water per minute. Eskom fact sheet on showerheads. Last accessed: 12/09/2017.
Average effective residential water & electricity tariffs were calculated from the published 2017/18 tariffs of the following four metropolitan municipalities: City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, City of Cape Town and Ethekwini, using the average residential water and electricity consumption values for LSM7-10 obtained from the above references.
For ‘lower income’ households, the average water & electricity tariffs are somewhat lower across the four municipalities (due to lower average consumption), at R1.65/kWh for electricity and R23.47/kilolitre for water & sanitation. This yields a cost per bath of R6.42, a cost per 10-minute ‘normal showerhead’ shower of R10.70/shower, and a cost per 6-minute low-flow showerhead shower of R3.40/shower.
Energy cost of hot water based on heating water from 15 to 60°C, which requires approximately 5.22 kWh per 100 litre.
