Durban - Ethekwini Municipality attributed the cause of a Clairwood pensioner’s R3million water bill to staff who have not read the water meter correctly.
Last week, the Daily News highlighted a pensioner’s woes, after she received a R3m water bill from the municipality’s revenue department.
The 75-year-old woman, who wished to remain anonymous, had been receiving an average monthly bill of between R1500 and R1700. She said the city had changed the water meter in December last year.
In April, she did not receive a bill, so she paid R1 000 to keep the account up to date. In May, her metro bill shot up to just over R3.4m.
The bill was made up of a balance brought forward of R2732.876. She was charged R647875.83 for May, with interest on arrears amounting to R22270 and VAT amounting to R97181.
Peet du Plessis, head of the Revenue Management Unit, explained that the reason for the error was because a water meter replacement was done on the property.
He said this meter was not read and, therefore, the opening reading was not captured correctly.
The system generated the charges and the daily average was not reset. The customer was notified on June 7 and was asked to approach the city with the relevant information.
The bill also carried a warning from the city that the account was in arrears and, should payment not be received, the municipality would cut off or restrict her service after 14 days.
“Regarding the customer’s concerns, the system has been coded to not generate any interest or carry out any disconnection of services until the matter is resolved,” said Du Plessis.
The municipality felt the Daily News headline to the story last week, “Pensioner in tears as City slaps her with huge rates bill”, was misleading.
“Rates are paid by residents as a tax. The customer has been billed for her water usage, which is a service. There is a major difference.”
The account has been corrected, said Du Plessis.
However, the pensioner yesterday told the Daily News she had not been contacted by the city since the article was published, but was previously told to revisit the water department on July 10.