Joburg Water has become infamous for the number of billing queries attached to their accounts. I would like to provide residents with an overview of how these billing problems have come about and how you can address them.
There are a number of reasons for incorrect billing, such as continuous estimated bills due to meters not being read. These estimates are often in contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act as they are for more than three months at a time.
The old meters also have an inherent fault in that if the pipes are full of air and this is released at speed by the resident they spin out of control, or grit can cause the wheels to stick together and turn as one. Both of these faults can result in massive bills.
One such account showed a single month consumption of R36 000, but to rectify this mistake took over two years due to an obstructive system and terrible attitude by the City.
First the resident logged a dispute which had to be done in person at a walk-in centre and was recorded by the billing department. This flags the account for a period of 60 days but it needs to be re-submitted every month to avoid having the service terminated.
The immediate response from billing was to ask the resident to check if there was no leak on the property. After a protracted to and fro they then advised the resident to have the meter tested at his cost even though as it only happened once, it was clear that the meter would not show a fault. Legally the city should pay for the test as the meter is their property.
The callous lack of understanding of the technical aspects relating to the meters would have resulted in the owner being faced with having to pay an irregular overcharge of R36 000 plus interest. The resident then contacted me and I was able to advise about these technical issues and how to engage the City.
Subsequent meeting with the management of the billing department they denied that there were any interruptions of service. However I was able to prove that there were 21 outages during the specified time.
They then insisted that they could only pass a credit once an instruction was issued by Joburg Water. Had they admitted this shortfall on their behalf in the beginning several months could have been saved.
After several meetings with Joburg Water their technical department finally checked the account history which the City’s billing department couldn’t access as they both use different computer systems which can’t talk to each other. Their comment was that even if there was a leak this amount would have resulted in a body of water the size of Zoo Lake.
As the account also showed no further similar overcharges they deducted that the meter wheels had stuck together and the charge was due to an isolated meter fault.
As this carried on for over two years the amount to be credited had grown to over R55 000 with interest. Joburg Water issued the necessary letter within three days, but it took the billing department a further four months to rectify the account.
If residents receive a massive water bill I hope that it is corrected swiftly, but if not then I hope that the above story can help direct them. The first port of call is always to log your issue via email, the call-centre, or at a walk-in centre, and get a reference number. Remember that the City is responsible for incorrect bills and faulty meters, and you should not accept otherwise.