Issues with municipal overbilling

Resident claims he has been overcharged

A PHOENIX resident has questioned how his water bill increased “drastically” over the past few months.

Younus Mansoor said the problem with how the ethekwini Municipality charged for water consumption had persisted over the past few years.

“For March 2020, the city estimated that I used 60kl, charging me R2 024 (excluding VAT). However, on the April account, the municipality charged me for 134kl for the period January 21 to March 18, 2020. This is grossly unfair as I did not consume 134kl in the month of April 2020 alone. The total charge for April was R5 730 and I was credited for the 60kl which they estimated for March, which effectively means that they charged me R3 706 for April,” Mansoor said in an email to the Daily News.

He said the 60kl which the municipality estimated in March was settled, adding that he should have been charged only for the balance of 74kl in April.

“Had the municipality only charged me for the 74kl in April 2020, then as per their charges scales, the charge should have been about R2 361, which means the excess charged by the municipality is about R1 345.”

He has written to the municipality on numerous occasions and many excuses were given, he said. He was told no readings were being done during the lockdown period, and their system does not allow for the adjustments that he requested. “Either they don’t want to acknowledge the incorrect manner in which they charge for water or they are happy fleecing residents,” he said.

Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city derived no joy from charging residents “ridiculous amounts”.

“Where our residents have concerns, our doors are always opened for engagement and to correct what may have gone wrong,” he said.

IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said estimating bills was an old issue in the municipality.

“If a platform can be opened for all residents to share their bills, you will be surprised by the number of people who have been billed even above R200 000. It is unacceptable that excuses are made when people want clarity on their bills. Worse with the case at hand – the city can’t tell the ratepayer how his money will be paid back,” Nkosi said.

DA caucus leader Nicole Graham said the first problem was with how the city estimated bills obviously over this period and before that.

“There is not enough meter reading that has been done. The second problem is that the city’s customer service channels, as they relate to revenue, are not efficient enough. So if people have problems, it’s quite difficult to resolve them unless you go through a councillor to try and resolve the problem or to understand what has gone wrong or, like Mr Mansoor indicates, to get the money paid back to you,” Graham said.