Durban – After months of Durban ratepayers raising problems with being unable to access their municipal bills and skyrocketing incorrect billing amounts, the eThekwini municipality has admitted that there were several challenges when the city migrated to the new revenue management system last year.
Since the system migration, irate ratepayers have told the media that they were beset with billing problems, and ward councillors told The Mercury last month that they were receiving daily complaints.
In a presentation to Independent Media on Thursday, deputy city manager for the finance cluster Krish Kumar said the city was aware of the problems and frustrations faced by ratepayers, and efforts were being made to investigate and resolve the issues.
“A lot of lessons have been learnt and we don’t want to place customers in a place where they are prejudiced.”
However, Kumar was adamant that the revenue management system, which has cost more than R650 million and for which the developers failed to meet delivery deadlines for years, was not at fault.
He said a large portion of the incorrect bills were due to problems with meter readings, including readings being recorded incorrectly by council staff; readings being done after six months, leading to high bills; and council staff being unable to access properties to take readings.
He added that some bills that had been flagged as high had been found to be due to water leaks.
Kumar said the R7 million bill that a Chatsworth resident had received recently had been due to incorrect meter readings and that the bill had been held back for investigation and the charges reversed.
In the presentation, Kumar said problems were found in fewer than 1000 accounts out of more than a million, and bills with excessive increases were being flagged for audit.
“The problems that were identified are being dealt with, but we urge customers to raise issues with us directly.”
He added that according to their records, no ratepayers had been disconnected in error since the system was fully implemented.
Kumar said challenges had also been experienced with data migration from the old system to the new, and this was exacerbated because some property registrations did not have GPS co-ordinates recorded, which were needed for the new system.
Peet du Plessis, head of the city’s revenue management unit, said the new system allowed for services to be linked to a property address, and also met legislative requirements.
Kumar added that the city was looking at the introduction of smart meters and prepaid meters, which would eliminate some of the current billing issues.
He said smart meters were sophisticated devices that would allow for monthly electricity and water readings to be accessed remotely instead of residents phoning in readings or having council staff read meters.
Kumar said the city would look at a phased implementation over a five-year period, and would start with replacing old meters in the next 12 to 18 months.
Asked about the costs involved with the implementation of the smart meter and prepaid meter system, Kumar said the costs in the long term would be minimal for ratepayers: “We would want to make it as cost effective as possible.”
Kumar admitted there were customer-service challenges around call centres that handled billing queries and said customers were urged to address problems by e-mail as far as possible.
Asked why the city had not held public meetings to address ratepayers’ concerns around billing, Kumar said public meetings were being planned, during which city officials would address concerns.
Ratepayers who disagreed with their bills or had trouble getting billing information were urged to e-mail [email protected], or call 0313245000.
Customers can e-mail their electricity meter readings to [email protected], call 0801313011 or SMS 0837000819.
New system requirements
The city said on Thursday that the new Revenue Management System:
* Places the emphasis on the property and linking services to it; GPS co-ordinates are required in order to locate the property correctly.
* Customer registration requires more details and must meet Financial Intelligence Centre Act requirements.
* The system was tested and audited before implementation.
* Tariffs are correct.
Key issues identified:
* Meter reading challenges where readings were not captured, were captured incorrectly or could not be done due to lack of property access
* Teething problems due to data migration from the old system.