Deception on water tariffs

AFTER highlighting the city’s unfair water and sanitation billing system in the Cape Argus of July 23, an elderly reader from Bo-Kaap informed me about the deception by the City that nobody noticed. He said we were tricked into believing that the average water-tariff percentage increase from 2017 to 2018 was approximately 10%. This inaccurate, low percentage easily persuaded ratepayers to accept the proposed water tariffs for 2018 without a fight.

The elder also stated that the huge increase in water bills that ratepayers are currently receiving may have little to do with water leakages, but more to do with the massive, increased water tariffs over the past 12 months.

Scrutiny of the tariffs revealed that in July 2017 the following six usage-intervals were used, 0 to 6kl, 6.1 to 10.5kl, 10.51 to 20kl, 20.1 to 35kl, 35.1 to 50kl and from 50.1kl and more, and the tariffs for each of these intervals were, respectively, approximately R4, R16, R18, R27, R33 and R44. Water tariffs effective from July 1, 2018 for the same intervals are, respectively, approximately R29, R46, R120, R120, R1 000 and R1 000. This implies that for each of the intervals listed above the water tariffs were increased, respectively, by 723%, 295%, 660%, 446%, 3 000% and 2 274%! And the average increase for a volume of 50kl of water is a whopping 1 272% from 2017 to 2018, and definitely not 10%.

It is clear that the City deviously used the level 6B water tariffs introduced in February 2018 when calculating the average percentage water tariff increase from 2017 to 2018. The City should correctly have used the tariffs applicable at the start of July last year. Had the City done this, ratepayers would never have accepted the exorbitant, increased water tariffs effective from July 1, 2018.