Why is billing ‘not working’?
JOBURG – The apparent problem facing ratepayers might soon be resolved.
Why do some ratepayers have constant headaches with the City of Johannesburg’s billing department?
Kgamanyane Maphologela, the City’s Group Finance spokesperson, said with 23 billing portions, 21 days to read meters and over one million accounts, operational deficiencies appeared.
“There are currently 23 billing portions that are spread across all regions; it takes the whole month to bill all the portions and there is no focus by meter readers on a particular area, therefore, impacting on the quality of the meter readings,” he said.
Early November, the department announced that billing regionalisation will be implemented from 1 February next year within regions A, B, C, E and Portion U (large usage consumers) and regions D, G and F from April. In May it will be fully implemented across the city.
This would affect the dates that ratepayers pay their bills, between the 15th and 28th of each month. The first 15 days of each month for taking meter readings per region. This means that municipal bills will be paid in the same month the meter is read. Meters will, according to the department, be read every month. But with the current system, revenue is only collected the month after billing.
However, the finance department believes that the coming regionalisation is set to change things. Meter reading efficiency, billing accuracy and collections will improve if it is aligned with regions.
“Billing accuracy will improve and customer complaints will reduce and better service delivery awaits ratepayers,” Maphologela said.
“Customers will be able to choose their own due dates, between the 15th and 28th day of the month and they will be aligned to their regional offices for focused service. Regionalised billing will make it easier for customers to understand their meter reading schedules,” he concluded.
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