Residents will be credited for overbilling

NDLAMBE residents have been overbilled by the municipality on their July bills.

The error was picked up by a former chairman of the Port Alfred Residents and Ratepayers Association, Charles Pellew.

In an e-mail to Ward 10 councillor Ray Schenk last Friday, which was copied to TotT, Pellew said on his account dated July 12, he was billed for rates and services based on the 2017/2018 tariffs, which only became effective from July 1.

“The account should be based on the 2016/2017 tariffs and not the 2017/2018 as per account,” Pellew said. “The accounts therefore are an overcharge to each owner/resident in Ndlambe.”

He asked Schenk to take up the matter so every account issued received a credit on their next account.

On Monday, Schenk said he had discussed the matter with the chief financial officer and found what caused the error.

“As you are aware, the municipality moved from an antiquated Abacus billing system to a Munsoft system in order to be compliant with the MSCOA system as required by National Treasury and this resulted in a glitch over the crossover from the 2016/17 financial year to the 2017/8 financial year,” Schenk said.

“The error has been rectified and everyone affected will be credited on the next account.”