LOOK: Durban woman billed R1.1m by eThekwini Municipality

Published Sep 18, 2018

Share

Durban - An Umbilo woman got the shock of her life when she opened her eThekwini Municipality bill which showed that her electricity and water consumption had ballooned to over R1.1m for the past month.

Janine van de Venter wrote on the Everything Glenwood Facebook page that she had been billed R1 150 012.34 for her lights and water 

Her previous bill in the screenshot of her account was R3 691.

She was then charged from detailed invoices R1 006 174. 60 and VAT of R143 837.74 which brought the total to R1 150 012.34.

The amount has to be paid by October 7. 

Her bill also warns that there will be an annual tariff increase from July 2018. 

Van de Venter said she is still in a state of shock since she opened up her email inbox and read her bill. 

"Although I am in shock I suspect the problem arose when the water department changed my water meter in August. I contacted the ward councillor who calmed my nerves by offering to assist me. I am very worried about this. I do not want to be left in the dark. I have been paying my bills diligently," she said. 

The eThekwini Municipality said they would investigate van de Venter's billing problem.

The city has been overcharging residents since the controversial Revenue Management System (RMS) was introduced at a cost of R1 billion. 

In June 2018,  DA’s Rory Macpherson, a member of the party’s economic development and planning committee revealed, at a full council meeting, that since the RMS system was introduced 189 468 residential disconnections had happened in the past two years.

He also raised questions about why the city now has to fork out R1.5m a month to pay consultants to run the RMS system, when millions were already spent. 

Daily News

Related Topics: