City points fingers at the public being home for high-than-usual utility bills

JOBURG – As lockdown rules continue to be relaxed, residents may start seeing their consumption returning to normal says the City.

October 6, 2020

Content provided 1 minute read

The City of Johannesburg has established that the higher-than-usual utility bills are accurate and could be attributed to the unusual consumption of water and electricity which shot up during the lockdown. Photo: File

The City is appealing to ratepayers to use water and electricity sparingly to avoid higher-than-normal utility bills.

According to a statement by the City of Johannesburg, there has been an upsurge in customer queries for bills issued during the lockdown, which customers say appear to be high than usual. Finance MMC Jolidee Matongo explained that the municipality has investigated the matter and established that most of these utility bills are accurate.

This was attributed to the unusual consumption of water and electricity which shot up during the lockdown. Matongo stated, “It must be noted that during the lockdown there was an increase in water usage for residential properties. This is directly linked to more people staying at home and only leaving to purchase essentials.”

Additionally, the non-revenue water loss by the City also increased during the lockdown and this is due to non-reported leaks and ageing infrastructure. The MMC noted that the council recently approved reduced tariffs for both water and electricity – from 8.6 to 6.6 per cent and from 8.10 to 6.23 per cent respectively, making higher-than-normal rates reasonable. He said as lockdown rules continue to be relaxed, residents may start seeing their consumption returning to normal. Municipal account holders in financial distress are encouraged to contact the City’s Credit Control Department to make special payment arrangements via email on creditcontrol@joburg.org.za.

The City has continued to encourage ratepayers to continue paying for services and keeping their accounts up to date. Residents can continue to visit customer centres to attend to their municipal issues but they have asked the public to use their regional Customer Service Centre email service to address similar matters.

Regional Customer Service Centre (CSC) email addresses: