The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) launched the regionalised billing process with effect from 1 February.
The first phase of this project has already been implemented in the following regions:
– Region A (Midrand)
– Region B (Randburg, Northcliff and Rosebank) and
– Region C (Roodepoort).
The second phase of this process will be launched during May this year in regions D, E, F and G.
Kgamanyane Maphologela, the city’s spokesperson, said that regionalised billing will streamline billing operations and have many benefits for customers. Some of these include billing accuracy, the ability of customers to choose their own due dates, regional meter reading, reduced long estimate billing and audit queries, limiting collection dates and informed reporting per region. “All of these benefits will result in improved problem-solving,” said Maphologela.
He continued, saying, “Customers’ municipal statements will now be billed per region and not per portion, as in the past. Customers should start noticing the impact of this on their February statements”.
The conversion to the new billing system, might result in some customers receiving two bills during the month of implementation. Maphologela assured customers that they are not being double-billed. “Some customers may receive two bills in February, but this will not cause a negative financial overcharge on the account. The first bill will be for January and the second bill will be for February. Both these accounts must be paid in full as they will be for services rendered and used during these months. As soon as the conversion is made, customers will receive their accounts as normal,” he said. If full payment of the accounts can not be made, customers should visit a call centre and make arrangements.
The other part of this change in billing is that customers will be able to choose their own due dates – ranging from the 15th to the last day of the month. “With the implementation of regionalisation, all due dates will be changed anyway, hence the offer for customers to choose their own due date between the 15th of the month and the last day of the month. Should customers not choose a date, the system will automatically default to a due date 15 days after the invoice was generated,” said Maphologela.
With the new billing process, customers will also know exactly which region their suburb falls into and can visit the city’s website (www.joburg.org.za) to familiarise themselves with the dates on which the meters in their area will be read.
Customers who wishes to choose their own due dates or have any other queries regarding the billing process can visit any of the city’s call centres. They can also contact the call centre on 0860 562 874 or send an email to duedates@joburg.org.za.
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