VIDEO: Alberton resident water bill doubled
This has been an ongoing problem since 2017.
A RESIDENT of Alberton pays more monthly on his water bill due to the negligence of the municipality.
Jean-Pierre de Beer lives in Phantom Street near Alberton High School. He said that air runs through his water meter when water is turned off or if there are problems with the water.
“I even took a video where people can see how the meter runs,” he said.
He also said that he had been complaining about this problem many times and addressed it with the water department from EMM.
People from EMM then replaced the meter with a new one, but the problem is still there.
“In November 2017, a new water meter was installed and I was told that they could only look into the problem after three months’ readings when a full investigation will take place. Our water is continually on and off,” he said.
“It leaves me with high water bills that are challenging to pay,” he continued.
“I have tried to talk about the problem but as soon as I try and talk to them they get aggressive. They told me if they change the meter it will help even though I told them that the meter is not the problem. I blew through both the brass and plastic meters and both does the same. In 2017 we had a statement of over R10 000 with the big burst on the corner of Padstow and Jubilee streets. Before that, it was the big burst on the grounds of Hoërskool Marais Viljoen’s school ground,” Jean-Pierre told the RECORD.
On his video, one can clearly see how the numbers change as the air pressure goes through the pipes. Jean-Pierre has several reference numbers as well as conversations with EMM workers.
WATCH:
Here is what EMM had to say:
“There is no query on the Council query system recorded in January or April 2017 of a defective water meter for this address. Meter number 30067102 was reading 00561kl when technicians visited the site and it is Class B instead of Class C. Class B is not the type of meters used by the City of Ekurhuleni. We have tried to establish the origin of this meter by checking whether any City department or a contractor might have been involved. We found that it was not installed by an official of the City or meter team contracted to the City of Ekurhuleni. The unauthorised and sub-standard meter might be responsible for the assumed above-average usage,” said Themba Gadebe, spokesperson for EMM.
Public’s comment on social media:
• Dare Jurgens J Myburgh: “This is daylight robbery. You pay for something that does not exist. Using air pressure meters for water meters is against the law. Sue these thieves”
• Lyn Chambers: “We had a similar problem and we had a non-return valve put in and that solved the problem.”
• Ryan Ridderhof: “Well of course it does.”
• Andre Swanepoel: “Makes a lot of sense”
Also Read:
WATCH: Air through pipes cause water meters to run
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