Many South Africans are cutting down on electricity consumption to keep up with their electricity payments after Eskom was granted a 31% tariff hike, a survey released on Friday has found.

Only 3% of 1 000 South Africans surveyed said they would be in a position to maintain their current power usage after the price hike, but this was only provided they tightened their belts elsewhere, said the survey conducted by Synovate, a market research company.

In June, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) granted the parastatal a 31% interim price increase after Eskom had applied for 34%.

Eskom indicated at the time that it might apply for yet another increase this year, once it had finalised its new funding model.

Nersa allowed a 15% tariff hike for poorer households.

The survey found that half of the lower income earners would have to slash their power usage, while 39% said they would have to "be more careful".

The study was conducted by polling South African adults who fell into the lower socio-economic groupings in the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Western Cape.