Query city bill errors with eThekwini directly

ETHEKWINI Municipality has urged customers to approach the city with any queries relating to their bills.

The city urges all customers that may have received an unusually high bill to contact them directly via the Revline call centre or the nearest customer care centre, Sizakala Centre.

Residents must note that eThekwini will not disclose any information concerning customers’ bills with a third party.

The municipality assures customers that the revenue management system (RMS) was fully tested and audited including its capability and accuracy, prior to being implemented.

While the city processes in excess of a million bills per month, less than a thousand of these have been incorrect due to the cut over period when the systems changed, meter reading challenges and in some instances human error when capturing readings. Apart from this, which has resulted in some customer bills being inaccurate, all bills are thoroughly checked for accuracy. In terms of the council process, any accounts picked up to be out of the norm in terms of the charges raised are trapped and sifted for further analysis.

Customers should check their readings in comparison with previous bills to determine the accuracy of the amount charged. If there is a high water consumption, customers may check for a possible water leak. Meters can also be tested at the customer’s request. Customers should take note that a bill consists of certain information that makes up the total charges namely property value, meter readings for electricity and water and tariffs used to charge for each of the service.

Email electricity meter readings to custocare@elec.durban.gov.za, call 080-131-3011 or SMS 083-700-0819. Make billing queries via email to revline@durban.gov.za or call 031-324-5000.

What goes wrong?

WRONG bills can happen when incorrect readings are captured and released before proper audit analysis can be finalised.
This has been addressed with the various units to ensure staff are appropriately trained to correctly address the audit report produced by the system. It needs to be stated that this is not unique, it always happened even in the old system, hence the city’s concern that the hype is unfounded. The municipality is dealing with these errors on case by case basis.
Due to more security on the system, the turnaround time for the correction was slow, but this has been addressed and has improved.

What should you do?

What can you do if your bill is incorrect?
1. Check your meter reading against the readings on your bill.
2. If it is estimated charges, check if the volume used to estimate the charges correlates to the previous bill where the daily average is recorded.
3. If there is high water consumption, check for a water leak.
4. If the customer believes there is still a problem, contact the water and electricity departments to have your meters tested.