Befordview residents are fed up with missing statements, interim reading and eventual disconnection of electricity and water.
“Massive readings have been levied on accounts where no meter readings were available,” said Ward 20 Clr Jill Humphreys.
Apart from Covid-19, residents are now additionally compromised by the metro, according to Humphreys.
She added that account statements have not been mailed to residents.
“The Siyakhokha site, where all information is meant to reside, is not easily accessed by everyone. At the beginning of lockdown it was announced there would be no disconnections. That relief window has lapsed,” said Humphreys.
Accounts are in arrears she said, or are too high to be immediately payable.
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In order to negotiate a payment arrangement, Humphreys affirmed residents must go to Germiston to sign such an agreement.
“Until the pandemic arrived, it was difficult enough. Now there is the additional risk of standing in queues, accessing public buildings that are closed and open continuously for sanitising at any time,” she said.
Humphreys included the sad result of all this is that many people who have lost jobs and are ill now also have to deal with the misery of being disconnected.
“The disconnecting contractors gleefully arrive in the suburbs with their lists of arrears customers. Frequently there are errors with previous payments not allocated or reflected on the accounts or houses that are not clearly marked and accounts in arrears because of mistakes made by other departments,” she said.
Humphreys added statements are not received, whereas residents in good faith have to guess what to pay.
According to Humphreys, another issue is metered water going on the account of homeowner as a result of a faulty or burst or incorrectly installed water meter.
“Frequently, these contraptions are installed and attended to with haphazard cavalier haste, with the inevitable result.
“To get the correct report from the water meter department can take months and in the meantime the helpless resident is charged and then gets disconnected,” she said.
As per Humphreys, during the cold a disconnection is devastating and the anguish and outrage is felt by residents who have paid up accounts but have been compromised by metro dysfunction.
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“There just seems to be no recourse, as the call-centre is useless and until another payment is made the resident remains disconnected,”she said.
Request for comment was sent on July 27 at 12.30pm.
Comment was requested by July 29 at 9am.
At the time of publishing no comment was received.
