Pensioner valuation nightmare
THE constant electricity cuts in Joburg’s north eastern suburbs have hopefully come to an end.
Certain suburbs have been experiencing frequent power cuts on a daily basis over the past months and Metrowatch has received numerous complaints from residents and businesses.
City Power has undertaken the refurbishment of the Sebenza power substation to alleviate these problems, saying it has invested R1 billion for this.
The substation is a buffer supply facility which is currently being built to mitigate against power outages arising from electricity demand exceeding supply.
This week city mayor Herman Mashaba visited the Sebenza substation.
“The multi-party government inherited an electricity network that required urgent attention. In many parts, infrastructure had been built decades ago for communities that have now grown substantially in size.
Some 27% of the city’s bulk transformers have been running past their useful lifespan, producing a staggering 177000 low voltage outages in 2017/18,” he said.
The visit coincided with the launch of a new, second transformer which has come online, which effectively doubles the electricity output of this facility.
“Its impact on stabilising the grid will be profound, greatly reducing the instability of electricity supply to the north-eastern parts of our city,” said Mashaba.
Later this year, a third transformer will be installed at Sebenza which will achieve a massive improvement in the stability of the electricity grid throughout the city, he added.
In the meantime, the possibility of load shedding is being reduced daily as wage negotiations between Eksom and trade unions, including the Numsa, were concluded this week.
SUE-ANNE BEALE, WRITING ON BEHALF OF HER 86-YEAR OLD FATHER, WRITES:
My dad has ongoing problems with the new valuation roll nightmare and now, his renewed pensioner’s application.
At age 86, he battles terribly with technology, even a cellphone is a challenge, so he is only able to deal with matters either telephonically or in person. I’ve tried to help him where I can, but often the information I get is incomplete and, unless I take time off from work to drive him around, the matters don’t get dealt with within the time period allowed.
He received an invoice from the city of R1 761 in July whereas he previously only paid for refuse costs, in accordance with his status as a pensioner.
He has not drawn any income for many years, and remains dependent on financial support from his son and daughter. He renewed his application for a pensioner’s rebate with all the necessary documentation. The current valuation of his property is R2.6m which would be very difficult to achieve in this suppressed market, considering the value has been increased by 38%. The previous valuation was fairly accurate at R1.9m.
Having driven to the Randburg office in an attempt to seek help, the queues were so long – he asked for assistance to a pensioners’ office, only to be told there was no-one assigned to help the elderly. He is not able to stand for protracted periods of time.
THE CITY HAS ADVISED:
The general valuation roll 2018 objection period officially closed on April 6. Pensioners over 70, irrespective of income, if they own and live in the property, will qualify for a full rebate, but the property has to be valued at R2.5 million or less.
The section 49 notification sent to all property owners, specifically indicated to customers that submission of objections should have been submitted within the objection period. It was also communicated that late objections will not be accepted.
However, late objections will be treated as queries. Customers should note that priority will be given to the objections received within the objection period and only thereafter will the queries be dealt with.
If customers have submitted objections to their new valuations, and their pensioner rebates, they should continue paying what they previously paid. The city received over 50 000 objections and it is anticipated that these will be considered by January/February next year.