Durban - Several Durban residents received a very unfestive letter from the eThekwini Municipality last week, informing them they would no longer be charged residential electricity tariff rates but business rates.
The municipality later said the letters were sent erroneously.
Posted at the end of last month, the correspondence read: “In reviewing the property use codes on the Valuation roll, council has identified that
your property is being categorised as commercial, business or industrial use, and is rated accordingly.
“However, for electricity billing purposes, the above property is classified residential.
“To rectify this discrepancy on the billing system, kindly be advised that your electricity tariff will be changed from residential tariff to business and general scale 1”.
The letters said the change in the tariff was effected at the beginning of October, and the municipality had the
right to recover the amounts retrospectively.
An Overport resident, who did not want to be named, was outraged.
“My tiny residential flat is in no ways used for business purposes,” he said.
“What evidence does the city have to show that I am a business operator? It is not acceptable, there was no forewarning and they send it out
at the peak festive season, when people are away from home.”
In an e-mail, the aggrieved resident was assured that: “The said property is indeed classified as residential as reflected on our rates valuation roll. No tariff changes shall be effected and your existing residential tariff remains unchanged.”
When questioned, eThekwini spokesperson Mandla Nsele said the letters had been sent incorrectly, and follow-up correspondence had been posted to residents informing them of the error.
“The municipality has undertaken a project which seeks to align all services to the rating category of the property and in this instance, certain properties such as blocks of mixed-use flats had not been recognised at the unit level, hence the error.
“We apologise for the concern we had caused for this category of customers and assure them we will correct this error on our side before proceeding with the conversion,” said Nsele.