High water bills put pensioners under pressure
One woman was shocked to find out she owed more than R20 000.
HAVE you studied your water statement closely lately? Some South Coasters have been shocked to see that their water bills seem to be running into thousands of rands.
One pensioner, who asked not be named, was shocked to find out that she owed Ugu R23 343,79. “My mother in-law is very old and lives by herself,” said the pensioner’s daughter-in-law.
“This is very stressful for her because she has no idea how her bill had become so high. She is scared that Ugu will cut her water off because she does not have the R23 342,79 .” She explained that her mother-in-law had been paying her water bill every month so she did not know how it suddenly got so high.
Another pensioner from Marburg was surprised to find out that she owed Ugu R5 305.22.
Ward 12 councillor Ajith Rajaram said he had received many complaints from Marburg residents claiming their water statements were unreasonably high.
“I will be communicating with Ugu to find out what the source of the problem is,” he said.
Ugu spokesman Sipho Khuzwayo said the municipality was aware of the incorrect billing. “The municipality is dealing with this problem through its meter audit programme,” he said.
“Ugu recently started this programm to deal with unaccounted for water in terms of illegal connections, faulty and leaking meters.
“The municipality’s billing department will investigate the accounts of these customers and if they have been incorrectly billed, the municipality will ensure that the accounts in question are corrected,” said Mr Khuzwayo.
“While the municipality continues with its meter audit programme, which is also conducted to deal with such issues as incorrect billing, consumers are urged to cooperate fully to ensure accurate meter audits.”
