Water meter bill woes for local residents
The saga involves one neighbour having to pay for another person's water bill on a monthly basis.
TWO Somerset Park residents say they are at their wit’s end after a five year battle to get the City’s water department to sort out their water woes. Dianne Hudson said the City is sending a water bill every month, with her neighbour’s water meter number on it. Hudson who lives in a complex said that several residents are affected by the problem. She said the water meter billing problems means one neighbor ends up paying for another’s water.
She has been fighting to convince the City that they are wrongly paying for next door’s water bill.
“They said it was crossed meters but it’s not. I’m paying for my neighbours bill, who is paying for another resident’s bill. Somebody who lives below me is paying for mine, the list just goes on. I only discovered this when they did not pay their water bill and my water meter was cut. Having paid my bill, I had to get a plumber out who noticed the problem.
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“They’ve been here and agree there is a problem but nothing gets sorted. Every month, I write to the City, it’s very simple to rectify. We’ve even had meetings with officials and still nothing gets done, it’s deeply frustrating,” she said.
Grace Levitt, another resident of the complex, is on the other end of the spectrum and hasn’t had a water bill for the past five years. Her water meter number is on another residents account. So we all have this domino effect.
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“My water was cut off in 2012, five years ago. I had no account being sent, because my water metre number is on someone else’s bill. The mistake on my bill originated from the municipal offices. My water bill number is on another residents bill. I’ve been putting money aside each month because I estimate I owe the City more than R30 000. It’s an absolute disaster. We just want other people in complexes to be aware of these issues,” the frustrated resident warned.
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