Another victim of City of Joburg’s utilities billing mess
|Published
Johannesburg - Greenside resident Andre de Beer has told of his anguish over the City of Johannesburg’s failure to respond to his complaints over erroneous billing.
For the past six months, De Beer has been receiving bills that are, in some instances, double his normal consumption, he claimed.
De Beer was shocked after receiving his September water and electricity bill amounting to R20 000.
Electricity cost R16145.87 and water 1985.87. This was billed over 133 days.
He said the amounts were “outrageous” and a major leap from his normal consumption of between R6000 to R7000.
“The amounts are marked as estimates. I don’t know why they can’t give actual readings. I asked the City if they are going cut me off if I don’t pay, but as usual nobody responded. I ended up paying. I feared being cut off.”
De Beer argued it was not probable that his bill could reach the amounts in the statements because he was using electricity sparingly and had installed energy-efficient lights.
“I have LED lights that save a lot energy. Sometimes I just switch off the lights to see the difference, but nothing happens. The estimated reading in my estimate is more than 20kW per day more than it was before I started installing more efficient lights. When will my 100% increase in rates and taxes be used to at least fix the electricity billing?” he asked.
His billing woes started around June when the City installed smart meters in his neighbourhood.
He said some months he was billed for 120 days or more. “It absolutely makes no sense. The month has 30 days. How is this possible?”
In a June email to the City, De Beer complained he was billed for an estimated 46 days for electricity and 33 days for water.
“My salary cycle is 30 days. It is unreasonable that I am expected to pay a bill for one and a half month’s consumption based on an estimation.
“To make matters worse I’m also penalised on your consumption sliding scale based on a 46-day estimate,” he wrote to the City.
His endeavours to reach out to the billing department and to mayor Herman Mashaba have been fruitless.
De Beer said he was no longer prepared to pay for the incorrect billing.
“They have to be transparent and do things right. We’re not supposed to suffer as residents. It is not right.”
Mashaba announced last year that he would personally be involved in a bid to resolve the City of Joburg’s utilities billing mess.
The City held regional open days on weekends last year where officials interacted directly with residents to resolve their problems, but the problems persist.
The City of Johannesburg’s Office of the Ombudsman is set to be moving officials in the revenue collection department to assist with the speedy resolution of billing complaints.
Vukile Madlala, the communications and media executive manager at the ombuds office, said interventions had already started and would be an ongoing arrangement that took place on monthly.
About 150 cases had been resolved since July this year, he said.
However, Madlala encouraged residents to first approach the City’s customer service centres to resolve their cases and only consider the Ombudsman as a measure of last resort.