Johannesburg residents to start buying water from October 1

Residents in the City of Johannesburg will be able to pay for their water consumption as from October 1, Johannesburg Water has announced.

The water utility said it was in the process of switching from open mode to the new prepaid smart meters as from next month, enabling customers to be able to buy water.

The rollout switching will commence in Cosmo City, Orlando East and West, Diepkloof, and Orange Farm.

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“The benefit of prepaid smart meters is that customers will be able to pay for their consumption, but those without meters will be billed for availability charges or deemed consumption which in most cases is above their consumption and more expensive,” said Spokesperson for Johannesburg Water, Nomusa Shabalala.

“Furthermore, qualifying residents will be able to register for the Expanded Social Package (ESP) at the City of Johannesburg’s Department of Social Development to access benefits.”

According to the utility, the process of pairing the open meters with Customer Interface Units (CIUs) is currently taking place.

The utility pleaded with customers to grant its teams access to their properties in order to allow the process of meter pairing to get underway.

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“Customers without meters will be deemed to have refused the meters hence bylaws will be enforced that will result in the disconnection of their water supply,” Shabalala cautioned.

The prepaid meters project will be extended to other regions.