In the hope that the billing system will deliver better results, the City of Johannesburg will be implementing the regionalization of its municipal billing.
The current billing system is based on a proportional model, which has proven to be challenging, said the Department of Finance spokesperson, Kgamanyane Maphologela.
“With the regionalization project being introduced from 1 February next year as a phased approach, the project aims to improve the overall billing so that ratepayers are billed according to the region they live in – meters are read regionally, they know when the City reads and when it bills and customers will be able to choose a due date between the 15th and the 28th day of each month to pay their bill,” he said.
The City wants ratepayers to be more regionally aware. If consumers inquire about services, they would do so at their region’s depot or customer service centres.
During the month of November, the department is running a Knowvember campaign, highlighting the City’s seven regions (from A to G) with each of these facilities.
@CityofJoburgZA @DeidreForbay @nkosanap Billing Regionalisation is here, what do you know about your region? #knowvember NJ^ pic.twitter.com/I31Kc8w4mR
— Joburg Finance (@JoburgFinance) November 7, 2016
“During Knowvember we will make sure that our customers know their region, when we read and when we bill, how to log and escalate a query, how to choose your due date and how our regionalisation project will impact you,” Maphologela said.
“We will also be telling residents about interesting facts about the regions they live in.”
Customers are encouraged to post their fun facts about their regions on the Joburg Group Finance Facebook page or twitter using #Knowvember and stand a chance to win one of seven Joburg goodie bags. Winners will be announced on 30 November this year.
The City’s MMC for Finance, Dr Rabelani Dagada said that estimations are the root of the billing issues in the City. The bylaws that allow for three- or six-month estimations based on one reading that, according to Dagada, is flawed and does not allow for seasonal or other considerations.
The MMC set out a list of objectives soon after he was appointed. To improve revenue management and the billing process was among the top of the list.
Dagada said if revenue collection increases, the City may reduce its debt for capital expenditure. “We borrow too much [when] we could be self-funding.”
