WESTVILLE mother, Raakhee Ally, received the shock of her life when she opened her Metro bill and discovered she was required to pay R667 675.07.
Ally said five people stay in the house, including her husband and three children. Her Metro bill for water, rates and lights is an average of R4 500 per month.
In February there was an underground leek at their Linford Place home and their insurance company was contacted to repair it.
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This saw their monthly average to escalate to R7 000.29. The family paid the amount in full.
The Ally family previously stayed in a complex and said the move into a free-standing home has been an expensive one and the recent Metro bill had them both unsettled.
“To be smacked with this extra bill was just overwhelming. This account has been an absolute mess since we moved into the house in June last year,” said Ally.
During a conversation with a municipal employee she was told she would need to wait for the Department of Water and Sanitation to accept the correct reading and then it will be adjusted on the system.
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Until then, she was advised to continue paying her average bill until it was amended.
“It is just so stressful to see such a large number on your bill and having to sit and wait is equally as stressful,” she said.
eThekwini Municipality’s deputy head of communications, Mandla Nsele, responds:
The Revenue Services Management (RMS) Systems is programmed to highlight any and all issues that may occur. This issue affecting the customer is a normal technical error which was caused by an incorrect meter reading and does not speak to the efficiency of the system. The customer was advised by the City of the issue with her bill and corrective action is in progress to resolve her account.
The system has picked up similar issues, and these are also being addressed.
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