Durban - An incorrect water meter reading was taken from the property of an uMbilo women whose utility bill totalled R1.1m.
Mandla Nsele, eThekwini Municipality spokesperson, said an incorrect meter reading was taken for this property. He was responding to questions from the Daily News on what caused an uMbilo residents bill to reach a million rand.
"This reading was flagged for audit for internal staff to review. Through the review, it was incorrectly released before correction. This matter is under investigation. The error in the customer’s bill was not due to an alleged Revenue Management System malfunction," Nsele said.
Janine van de Venter had been billed R1 150 012.34 for her lights and water for the month of August 2018. Her previous bill in the screenshot of her account was R3 691.
She told the Daily News she got the shock of her life when she opened her emailed eThekwini Municipality bill on Tuesday.
It showed that her electricity and water consumption had ballooned to over R1.1m for the past month.
Nsele said if residents have problems with their bills they need to contact the Municipality through the Customer Service Centres or through correspondence to raise their queries.