17 May 2010, 07:38
Residents have accused the cash-strapped City of Johannesburg of extorting money from them through extraordinarily high water and electricity bills.
The Star has received numerous complaints from Joburg residents who are being overcharged anything from a few thousand rands to R609 000.
According to the complaints, the council has:
Started charging many residents huge interim amounts, despite meters being read and despite many residents phoning or e-mailing their readings in. These charges are sometimes more than four times the average consumption,
Changed payment dates, making them earlier and earlier each month.
Resorted to immediate disconnections if bills are not paid timeously and then charging reconnection fees of more than R1 200, even though in some cases the electricity is not actually disconnected.
Arbitrarily increased residents' bills without providing details of what the increases are for.
Residents are having to try to get the charges reversed. This is causing a huge inconvenience for people who get paid at the end of each month.
Residents are also being charged for readings on non-existent water and electricity meters.
Mark Woolley said this was a way for the council to bring in money. His account was usually due on the 24th of each month.
Last month's payment date was moved to April 19 for the March account and now, for the April account, the due date is May 11.
"It is clearly a method of extracting early payment from residents to improve cash flow," he said.
John Greathead said he received an interim electricity reading of what he says is an "arbitrary" figure of R474, which is much higher than his normal consumption of about R315 a month and higher than his highest charge of R421 for usage in August, in the middle of winter.
He had also been phoning in his water readings, so the excuse of having no staff or service provider to read the meters was not applicable, and this constituted fraud, he said.
Vivienne Marincowitz said she had received an account for November for the amount of R10 160, which was far more than her usual amount of about R3 500 a month. After wasting much time, an inspector came to do a reading and confirmed the reading was incorrect. She was assured the account would be rectified.
However, according to the council, it estimates a bill only when circumstances demand it.
This can happen, said Kgamanyane Maphologela, spokesman for Joburg's revenue department, if meter readers did not have access to the ratepayer's premises. The consumption history was then used to calculate estimated consumption or interim charges. The number of days within the billing period was also used in this calculation. Once actual readings were obtained, the ratepayer's account would automatically be adjusted.
"We are experiencing an interruption in the meter-reading process due to internal restructuring. We have to estimate consumption and base it on previous usage," he said.
Regarding the new payment dates, Maphologela said the council started implementing a new billing and invoicing system on December 12 last year. This had affected residents' billing and due dates. About 11 different databases were migrated into a consolidated single database.
"The bill is due when a ratepayer receives, it and only becomes delinquent 30 days after the billing date. Ratepayers have 14 days after the due date to settle the outstanding amount before their account goes into arrears, at which point the outstanding amount due will accrue interest," he said.
This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on May 17, 2010
The Star
Comments by Sonny
The time has come to axe Amos Masondo and his crooked employees.
The Johannesburg Metro Council receives the payments, yet they attempt to commit fraud.
Residents should register fraud cases against the mayor.
No comments:
Post a Comment