The first 30 billing problems reported to the newspaper after an appeal have been handed over to CoJ for investigation today.
Since the Record appealed for reports about serious billing botch-ups with the article ‘Tell us about your billing woes’, online on 16 October and in print on 23 October, the office has received 30 completed forms (online) and hundreds of queries telephonically and via email.
Tell us about your billing woes
Today a journalist met up with Yolandé Janse van Rensburg, assistant director in Region C’s Citizen Relationship and Urban Management (Crum) department, to discuss the reports received. Janse van Rensburg shed some light on various issues that have come up in the reports to date, a lot of them regarding incorrect billing after a smart meter had been installed on the premises involved.
“We’ve had a spectrum of responses to the city’s rollout of smart meters; some people have never had an issue with their smart meter and others have endless trouble getting a correct statement at the end of the month,” she said.
She further stated the reported issues cannot be resolved by the various municipal departments, such as City Power and Joburg Water, as the reports have to do with billing.
“Revenue Services will have to investigate these matters; other municipal departments usually investigate and deal with technical issues at various sites, but statements for all the departments are drawn up centrally by Revenue Services,” she said.
Janse van Rensburg has handed the reports over to Shaun Govender, assistant director of the Revenue Shared Services Centre in Region C, to start investigations.
Not all the reports will be resolved at once and certainly not in a day’s time. As municipal officials investigate and resolve reports, the Record will update its readers.
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