THE eThekwini Municipality has urged Highway residents who have received exorbitant and incorrect Metro bills to contact them directly to address the problem.
“The city urges all customers that may have received an unusually high bill to contact the Revline call centre, the nearest customer care centre, Sizakala Centre or to send a direct message on the city’s Facebook page,” said the eThekwini Municipality’s head of communications, Tozi Mthethwa.
Mthethwa said the Revenue Management System (RMS) was fully tested and audited, including its capability and accuracy, prior to being implemented.
She added the city processes in excess of one million bills per month.
“Of these, less than one per cent has been incorrect due to the cut over period when the systems changed, meter reading challenges and in some instances human error when capturing readings,” said Mthethwa.
“Apart from this, which has resulted in some customer’s bills being inaccurate, all bills are thoroughly checked for accuracy.”
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How bills are incorrectly calculated:
This happens when incorrect readings are captured and released before a proper audit analysis is finalised. “This has been addressed with the various units to ensure staff are appropriately trained to correctly address the audit report produced by the system.”
Mthethwa said they are being dealt with on a case to case basis.
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Checklist before reporting an incorrect bill:
1. Check your meter readings against the readings on your bill.
2. If the charges are estimated, check the volume used to estimate the charges. Check to see if it correlates to the previous bill’s daily average.
3. If there is a high water consumption, residents are first urged to check for a water leak.
4. If there is still a problem, Mthethwa encouraged residents to contact the water and electricity departments to have their meters tested.
All other billing queries can be directed to revline@durban.gov.za or 031 324 5000. Residents can also send their electricity meter readings to custocare@elec.durban.gov.za, call 080 1313 011 or SMS 083 7000 819.
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