In 2010 Johannesburg water provided between 6 and 15 cubic meters of water per month for free, depending on the poverty level of residents. For those considered not poor, the tariff for the tranche between 6 and 10 cubic meters was R4.93 (US$0.73), for the tranche up to 15 cubic meters it was R7.31 (US$1.08) and so on until R14.94 (US$2.21) for a consumption exceeding 40 cubic meters per month. The bill for 10 cubic meters per month thus is R20. Poor households have to register themselves as "indigent" (poor), which – according to critics – leads to a situation where only a fraction of the poor receive the higher free basic water allocation to which they are eligible.
